Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 15 (IANS) Saluting farmers for achieving a high output this year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday called for another Green Revolution to address the twin issues of checking prices and food security.

“I congratulate the country’s farmers for their achievements this year. The production of foodgrain has been at a record level. Wheat, maize, pulses and oilseeds have all seen record levels of production,” the prime minister said in his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort here.

“It is because of the hard work of our farmers that today there are proposals for export of foodgrain, sugar and cotton,” he said.

The prime minister said India can tackle rising food prices only by higher production and productivity. This, he said, was also necessary to implement the food security law, promising heavily subsidized grain to the poor.

“We need a second Green Revolution in agriculture,” he said. “We will accelerate our efforts in this direction in the 12th Plan.”

The first Green Revolution in the 1970s and 1980s, which combined high-yielding seeds and new irrigation methods, had helped India lift its wheat and rice output and reach self-sufficiency in food, from being a heavy importer of grain.

The prime minister also assured farmers, particularly those who are small and marginal, that they would continue to get easy access to fertilisers, seeds and credit. “We also want to provide the best possible irrigation facilities to the farmers.”