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Govt to invest Rs 300 billion to boost agri growth

Union Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh on Friday said that the government has planned an investment of Rs 300 billion by 2006-07 to increase agriculture growth to 4 per cent as against the current level of 3.1 per cent.

Replying to supplementaries during question hour in Rajya Sabha, Singh expressed concern over the falling level of capital investments in the sector from 32 per cent to 24 per cent of the total funds.

He said even though capital formation in the agriculture sector is estimated at Rs 200 billion during the ten years ending 1999-2000, he said in GDP terms it had come down to 1.1 per cent currently from 1.6 per cent.

The minister said the budget for the current year had provided substantial allocations for strengthening the infrastructure for development of agriculture.

This included Rs 105 billion additional credit flow for agriculture sector, Rs 25 billion for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and Rs 7.50 billion for rural electrification.

He said the details of Tenth Plan allocations for the sector were being worked out.

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