NEW DELHI, July 16 � In a rare honour, Assam was awarded the Krishi Karman Award for increase in foodgrain production. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi received the Award from Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
While Assam and Odisha got the award in the category of achieving overall foodgrain production between one and 10 million tonne, Tripura was the sole winner in the category of States with overall foodgrain production of less than one million tonne.
Chief Ministers of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Assam and Chhattisgarh were present to receive the awards. Agriculture ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Tripura, Maharashtra and Karnataka received the awards on behalf of their States.
In the second category of four awards given for individual crops and crop groups, the award for rice went to Chhattisgarh, wheat to Haryana, pulses to Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and coarse cereals to Karnataka.
Each award winning State received a trophy, a citation and cash award. The cash award (for each State) was Rs 2 crore for total foodgrain production and Rs 1 crore for each of the four crops included in foodgrains.
Addressing the function, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh called for raising farm productivity to meet the growing demand of foodgrains in the country. �The inclusive strategies of development that we are pursuing should further increase the incomes of the poorer sections of our society. This will further increase demand for not only foodgrains but also fruits, vegetables and animal products. The total demand for foodgrains is projected to touch 280 million tonne by the year 2020-21. Meeting this demand will necessitate a growth rate of nearly 2 per cent per annum in food production.�
The Prime minister said that the production of major crops has been at record levels in 2010-11. He said that the highest production record could be achieved because of record production of wheat, maize and pulses. Dr. Singh said that the country clearly needs a second green revolution that is more broad-based, more inclusive and more sustainable; there is a need to produce more without depleting natural resources any further.
Addressing the gathering, Minister of Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Sharad Pawar announced that the target of additional production of 20 million tonne of foodgrains has been achieved a year in advance through collective efforts of the Centre and State governments.
The production of fruits, vegetables, milk, meat, fish and eggs has also been increasing significantly in recent times, Pawar added.
He informed that the production of foodgrains has reached 241 million tonne in 2010-11. The minister stressed on technological breakthroughs and innovative agriculture development programmes to maintain the current momentum as well as to increase the input use efficiency for sustained increase in agricultural production.
