India has drawn up big plans to increase its production of basic food items to reduce its costly imports.
The country will soon unveil a blueprint for this purpose, officials said. The country also plans to lift wheat output by 11% over four years.
The government will come out with a detailed paper within a week to raise production and productivity of major food crops by 2011.
The Centre wants to boost wheat output to 80 million tonnes a year, from a harvest of around 73 million tonnes, as it cannot afford to trawl overseas markets every year.
There is no future for India if it start importing food. It can't afford to import basic food items like wheat, rice and pulses.
Smaller countries can do it, but not countries like India and China with a billion-plus population. India cannot import food articles in large quantities as it affects prices in international markets.
Rice production is expected to go up to 101 million tonnes by 2011 from around 90 million tonnes now.
Moreover, India is mulling to increase oilseed production to 35 million tonnes and pulses output to 18 million tonnes.
