TN targets primary sector to achieve five per cent growth under 12th plan

Chennai:
Forty per cent of Tamil Nadu population is dependent on livestock and the state government in a bid to have inclusive growth and improve the per capita income of the rural poor is targeting the primary sector by providing targeted freebies, according to state finance secretary K Shanmugam.

Addressing a seminar on ‘Advanced Technologies in Livestock Production for Socio-economic Empowerment of Rural Farmers’ by Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Shanmugam said universally freebies are bad but the move to provide milch cows is a targeted freebie to alleviate poverty.

The distribution of milch cow to widows will empower power women and will provide resources for the poor besides improving their asset level, Shanmugam said while highlighting the strategy of Vision 2023.

The state failed to achieve the target of four per cent growth during the 11th five year plan in the agriculture sector. We achieved only 1.1 per cent growth due to lack of planning,” the finance secretary said.

“Now the government has fixed a five per cent growth in the primary sector and this can be attainable as it is backed with a strategy under Vision 2023,” Shanmugam said.

Although the state is implementing to increase agriculture production but the focus is more on livestock sector as the sector has recorded 13 per cent growth during the last five years. He said the primary inflation has switched to secondary inflation with prices of essential commodities going up and the distribution of milch cows and goats could minimize the demand supply gap in milk and egg.

He also said there is a need for developing milk machine while highlighting the prevalence of Mastitis, a persistent, inflammatory reaction of the udder tissue in cattles.
“The machines are there but they have to be tried at field level,” he said. Interestingly, the finance secretary highlighted on the shortage of fodder and said now feeds are being developed to feed the goat in the shed.

Animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi highlighted how the state government is giving lot of priority to animal husbandry. The budget for the sector duing the DMK regime was Rs 360 crore and the state government raised it to Rs 600 crore last year and now it has been hiked further to Rs 800 crore. “The importance is due to the fact that any direct impact on livestock will impact the rural economy,” he said.