'Adopt new development strategy for agriculture'

COIMBATORE: Fearing that share of farm sector in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would decline further, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said there was an urgent need for a new development strategy for agriculture.
    
The share of agriculture in GDP 'has declined for reasons that were obvious', he said delivering the convocation address of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University here.
    
Agriculture output accounts for less than a quarter of the country's GDP and has been growing under four per cent.
    
The agriculture sector usually grew at a moderate pace and it was the industry and service sectors that were capable of recording high rates of growth, including double digit growth, he said.
    
"While the size of the total pie has increased and the size of agricultural economy in that pie has also increased, the share of agriculture has declined," Chidambaram said.
    
"I am afraid, given the International experience and India's record, that share will decline further," he said.
    
It was now widely acknowledged that there has been a serious loss of dynamism in agriculture and allied sectors.
    
Analysis has shown that after the terms of trade improved during 1990 to 1997, they turned against agriculture from 1999 to 2005. Farm prices actually fell and at the same time the farm production decelerated and public investment remained low and private investment stagnated, he said.
    
Research should focus on water resource management, retrieving degraded land for agriculture, improved seeds, rain-fed or dry land agriculture and mitigating knowledge asymmetry, Chidambaram said.