Land bill to benefit country's farmers: Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said the land acquisition bill passed by parliament will benefit thousands of farmers across the country.

Addressing a group of farmers from Gujarat here, Manmohan Singh said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has taken several measures to ensure farmers get cheap electricity, water, fertilizers and loan at lower interest rates.

"The government has taken a great leap forward for the benefit of farmers by passing the land acquisition bill recently," he said.

The prime minister said India has kept a target of achieving 4 % growth rate in the agriculture sector during the 12th Five Year Plan.

"Increasing food grain production is a big challenge in order to meet the demand of our increasing population. Farmers have been facing many challenge especially due to increase in demand of land, water and manpower in other sectors," he said.

"Despite that, there has been record production of 259 million tonne of food grain in 2011-12 with that of rice and wheat also touching a record level," he said.

He said the government will ensure farmers get easy access to latest farming technology and other benefits.