Report: conserve prime farmland

The Hindu,
Thursday, October 5, 2006.

The National commission on Farmers chaired by M.S.Swaminathan has said that prime farmland must be conserved for agriculture and should not be diverted for non-agriculture purpose and for programmes such as the Special Economic Zones.

It has also suggested that the Constitution be amended to bring agriculture on the Concurrent List for better coherence between macro policies of trade, finance and investment.

In its final report presented to the Government on Wednesday, the Commission has suggested the formulation of a National Policy on Farmers and suggested that the recently constituted Sixth Pay Commission go into the “take-home income” of farmers and their families.

It says the compensation provision of the existing Land Acquisition Act was “anti-farmer” and must be reviewed.

Chairman of the Commission M.S Swaminathan presented the three-part report to Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar here on Wednesday. “The time has come when we should focus more on the economic well-being of the women and men feeding the nation, than just on production”, says the report.

Land-mapping needed
Speaking to The Hindu, Dr.Swaminathan said SEZs should be on a case-to-case basis and on low biological potential land. There should be mapping of the land unsuitable for agriculture and earmarked for SEZs.However, the growth of agriculture and industry should be harmonized so that people could move from on-farm to non-farm activities. But the unfinished agenda on land reform must be expedited.

He said the large-scale import of wheat this year was a “wake-up call”.

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