Editorial
Boost in food production hailed
Enhance people's purchasing capacity
It is good news that Jose Graziano da Silva, Director General Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), has expressed satisfaction with the growth in our food production in a press conference on Monday in the capital. He, however, noted that a large number of people still suffer from malnutrition. He stressed the necessity of diversification of people's diet.
Rice production has almost doubled in the past two decades, rising up to 3.36 crore tonnes from 1.78 crore in 1990-91. Production of other crops, livestock and fish has also seen laudable increase. But while all these are good augury for us, the FAO DG has rightly noted that people's purchasing capacity has not proportionately increased. It brings us to the crux of the matter because if people, especially those in the lower tiers of the society, do not have enough money to buy food the growth in productivity will have little meaning for them. The government must pay proper attention to this by creating more employment for the poor and also by initiating more "food for work" programmes.
In the face of declining arable land, increasing population and salinity threats, the FAO DG suggested seeking regional cooperation in enhancing technical know-how to face up to these challenges.
In matters of further increasing production, we think that the huge gap between the price of rice at the grower's level and that at the retailer's should be bridged. Being induced by the high price of a crop, farmers go for production, but because of the intervention of the middle-men they are denied fair price for their produce. The farmers need all kinds of incentives including remunerative prices for their produce to be able to boost production and meet other basic needs, apart from food.
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