Monday, March 7 2005 17:35 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (March 7, 2005) promised rural India a "New Deal" to reverse decline in farm investments through increased funds for agricultural research, irrigation and wasteland development.

He said the Government was committed to launching the Second Green Revolution.

"Our Government has been voted to power on the wave of agrarian distress, caused partly by the failure of the market and partly by the failure of the State," Singh said while inaugurating the New Delhi office of International Food Policy Research Institute.

"What does this New Deal entail? It is intended to reverse the decline in investment in agriculture," he said.

The Prime Minister said an important dimension of the New Deal is aimed at ensuring food and nutritional security of the people, while at the same time augmenting farm incomes and employment through launching of the second green revolution.

"Our Government will be launching a National Horticulture Mission that is aimed, in part, at stimulating this second green revolution in the range of new crops and commodities," he said.

The Prime Minister said with more advances in science and technology in areas like biotechnology coming from the private sector, it was important to ensure availability of these products to the poor farmers.

"The challenge is how to encourage this creativity, this innovativeness and at the same time to ensure that new products and new processes will be far affordable for the vast majority of farmers who live on the edges of subsistence," he said.