Steps taken by the Government for regionally differentiated approach to increase crop production and diversification in the country. Elaborate!

Agriculture and agricultural products are an important part of India's economic growth. To achieve double digit growth rate, agriculture must grow at 4% per annum. So, Government of India has been putting special emphasis on increasing agricultural output and its diversification in order to achieve 4% annual growth rate during 11th Five Year Plan. A number of steps have been taken in this direction with a regionally differentiated approach that includes Micro-irrigation schemes and micro-credit schemes for regions with bulk of marginalized farmers.

Integrated scheme of oilseeds, pulses, Oil Palm and Maize (ISOPOM) have been designed to give flexibility to the states as per their agro climatic and socio-economic conditions, to utilize funds for the choice of crops.

It is accepted by the authority that to achieve a sustainable growth in agriculture, to give benefits of technology, it is necessary to spread technological advancement in all parts of India. The Green Revolution was concentrated only in a part of India and on cereal crops only, but now it is identified that other regions are to be covered under some area specific schemes.

National Food Security Mission targets to increase production of rice, wheat and pulses by 10, 8 and 2 million tons respectively. National Missions on Bamboo and Coconut had been deployed for crop diversification and by-product utilization to enrich the returns of farmers as per the regional needs.

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