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Separate ministry for marketing farm products proposed

Union Minister of State for Rural Development Babagowda Patil on Wednesday said he would urge Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to set up a separate ministry for marketing farm products, so as to prevent exploitation of farmers by middlemen.

Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, he said the subsidies given to farmers should continue till they were assured of a fair price for their produce.

The minister said cotton should be exported only in October as the trade would suffer if the export was allowed in June or July.

On the spate of suicides by cotton growers in the state, Patil said he would write to Union Chemical and Fertilisers Minister Surjeet Singh Barnala to introduce a legislation to curb the sale of adulterated pesticides and fertilizers.

Patil said his ministry released Rs 7.56 billion to Andhra Pradesh during 1997-98, though the Centre's allocation was only Rs 6.84 million. It was unfortunate that many states had failed to utilise the funds allocated to them, he regretted.

He said the experience of Andhra Pradesh in promoting the concept of local habitation groups by involving various self-help groups with shared goals was the right approach to ensure transparency and success in their implementation.

Patil said the Centre was committed to providing potable drinking water to all habitations in the next five years, evolving a national housing and habitat policy and creating massive employment at all levels.

He said his ministry was particularly concerned about the depletion of ground water. It proposed to bring all watershed programmes under one umbrella. An efficient surface water management with emphasis on continuous recharge of ground water resources is also being contemplated, he added.

Patil said a meeting of rural development ministers of all the states would be held in Delhi on May 13 to discuss development programmes.

UNI

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