Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approves outlay of Rs 12,350 crore for National Food Security Mission in 12th Plan

To meet the growing food demand, government today approved an allocation of Rs 12,350 crore for boosting foodgrains production by 25 million tonnes under the National Food Security Mission during the 12th Five Year Plan.

The National Food Security Mission (NFSM) was launched in 2007-08 with an outlay of Rs 4,882.48 crore for the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-12) and succeeded in meeting its objective of raising foodgrains output by 20 million tonnes (MT). Keeping in view the necessity to raise foodgrains output to meet future demand, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved continuation of the ongoing centrally sponsored scheme NFSM during the 12th five year plan (2012-17) with an allocation of Rs 12,350 crore. "This will help in increasing additional foodgrains production of 25 million tonnes by 2016-17," Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tiwari told reporters here after the CCEA meeting.

Under the NFSM, rice output would be raised by 10 MT, wheat by 8 MT, pulses by 4 MT and coarse cereals by 3 MT during the 12th Plan. For the 2013-14 fiscal, the outlay for NFSM has been increased to Rs 2,250 crore from Rs 1,850 crore last year. NFSM would be implemented in 27 states, including the North-eastern and hill states, an official statement said.

The Mission would be implemented in selected districts as per the criteria laid down for NFSM, giving the priority to districts that have yields lower than the State average. The objective of the NFSM would be on cropping systems instead of individual crops and inclusion of coarse cereals through development of Farmer-Producer Organisations (FPOs), creating value chains and providing market linkages.

The basic strategy is to promote improved technologies, enhancing farm efficiency, integrated pest management, water use efficiency and resource conservation technologies. Proven crop production technologies developed by the National Agricultural Research System would be made available to the farmers through a series of planned interventions and financial incentives.

The country's average annual production rose to 237.5 MT in the 11th Plan period from about 202.5 MT in the 10th Plan period.