New Delhi: The drought-like situation may pose a challenge to India's agriculture sector, but the country is unlikely to face shortage of foodgrain till next year, according to Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma.
"The looming drought poses a challenge to our agriculture sector," Sharma said while delivering the valedictory address at a national workshop on "Achieving Exponential Growth in Agro Exports", organised by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority on Tuesday.
"But fortunately we had bumper crops. So our granaries are full. We do not see any shortage of foodgrains this year and hopefully next year," he said.
Stating that no country can produce food for a billion people, he said India would have to depend upon itself for its food security.
"India's self-sufficiency in food is a major contribution to global food security," the minister said.
Sharma added that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has laid special emphasis on agriculture and so has the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in the last five years.
In this connection, he cited the loan waivers given by the government to farmers in distress.
"We have seen a period when farmers have been in distress. I am not here to suggest that there is no distress at all today. But steps have been taken for an inclusive approach to the problem to embrace the rural population in the markets."
Mentioning the Rs 710-billion farm loan waiver scheme, Sharma said: "The government sought out even those farmers who had not taken any loan from financial institutions, but from private money-lenders, while encouraging nationalised banks to substitute those loans."
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