India set to become global food basket, says Chouhan

Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday reaffirmed the Modi government's commitment to making India the food basket of the world while addressing the 4th convocation ceremony of Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University at Pusa in Bihar’s Samastipur district.

- Bishnu K Jha

Highlighting the achievements of the past decade, the minister said that once, former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri had made a call to give up one meal to deal with food shortages.

‘As of today, our food granaries are full and well-stocked across the country.

“Food grain production in the country has increased by 40 per cent in the last 11 years.

There was a time when we relied on imported American PL-480 red wheat. Today, we are self-sufficient and export Basmati rice worth %50,000 crore along with other agricultural products to several countries,” he said.