NEW DELHI, JULY 28: India announced on Friday a national farm policy targetting an annual growth rate of over four per cent and promised tariff protection to farmers while encouraging investments in the sector."Over the next two decades it (the policy) aims to attain a growth rate in excess of four per cent per annum in the agriculture sector," Agriculture Minister Nitish Kumar told Parliament. India's agricultural output grew by 1.3 per cent in 1999/2000 (April-March) and officials expect higher growth this year."The government will enlarge the coverage of futures markets to minimise the wide fluctuations in commodity prices" and to enable hedging of risks, Kumar told Parliament. The policy will also seek to protect the interests of the country's farmers following the scrapping of import curbs on more than 700 items in line with World Trade Organisation (WTO) norms.India will try to develop strategies to promote exports and protect growers "from the adverse impact of undue price fluctuations in world markets," the government said in a statement outlining the policy. It added that international prices will be monitored and appropriate tariff protection provided to protect the interest of farmers after the removal of quantitative restrictions.RESTRICTIONS REMOVED: Earlier this year, India removed such restrictions on imports of 714 items as part of its commitment to WTO norms, when it announced changes for 2000/01 (April-March) to its Export-Import policy.India still has restrictions on imports of 715 products, all of which it must remove under its WTO commitments by April 1, 2001. "Import duties on manufactured commodities used in agriculture will be rationalised," the policy said.It added that the domestic agricultural market will be liberalised and all controls in the way of farmers' income will be reviewed. The structure of taxes on foodgrains and other commercial crops will be reviewed and rationalised, it said.The policy will also encourage private investment in areas like research, post-harvest management and marketing. The policy statement said special attention will go to development of new crop varieties, particularly food crops, with higher nutritional value through adoption of bio-technology.But analysts said the success of the policy would depend on its implementation, which was the responsibility of the federal and state governments. "The contours of the policy were known. Has this government the finance and human resources to successfully implement the programmes?" asked one Bombay-based commodity analyst.The agricultural sector accounts for 25-28 per cent of India's gross domestic product, and two-thirds of the country's nearly one billion people depend for their livelihood on products ranging from wheat and rice to oilseeds and cotton.
