PM calls for boosting farm productivity to counter rising prices

Prime minister Manmohan Singh today said that rising prosperity will increasingly put pressure on food supply and the country needed to boost farm productivity to counter it. Singh was addressing the first annual conference of chief secretaries in the capital today.

In the wake of the failed monsoon rains of last year, food prices have been rising to record peaks in the country that is the world's top consumer of a sugar, wheat, edible oils, rice and lentils. The developments have triggered protests among poorer sections of society prompting authorities to restrict monetary supply.

New York sugar has scaled to highs that have not been witnessed in 29 years on the back of demand from India.

The prime minister told the meeting of top bureaucrats from states that the country needed to increase farm productivity as food supply remained an area of concern.

He added that many people felt the government had been able to control prices but the government had learnt the growing population and higher levels of living necessitated augmentation of food supplies.

Sugar prices in India, last year doubled in tandem with global prices forcing the government to import large quantities to ensure steady supplies.