Food Bill: Rs 1.15 lakh cr more needed to raise farm output

New Delhi: An additional investment of Rs 1,15,660 crore would be required to revitalise the agriculture sector and boost production to meet the foodgrains demand under the proposed Food law, Parliament was informed on Tuesday.

"To effectively implement the proposed Food Security Act, it is estimated that there should be an additional production of about 70-75 million tonnes of foodgrains," Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

The minister said that this would require revitalisation of farm sector with larger investment to support research and development, extension services, creation of infrastructure facilities and ensuring access to credit, crop insurance and remunerative prices to the farmers.

The foodgrains requirement is also expected to increase to 61-62 million tonnes from the current 55 million tonnes.

"Ministry of Agriculture has tentatively worked out an additional requirement of Rs 1,15,660 crore for the purpose," Rawat said, adding that the food security bill focuses on revitalisation of farm sector.

In December last year, the government had introduced the National Food Security Bill in Parliament and the same has been referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee.

The Food Ministry has estimated that the food subsidy bill would increase to about Rs 1,00,000 crore to implement the proposed law. The foodgrains requirement is also expected to increase to 61-62 million tonnes from the current 55 million tonnes.

About 65 per cent of the country's population will be covered under the proposed Act, which seeks to give legal entitlement on highly subsidised foodgrains to poor.

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