India calls for increase in farm productivity at G-24 meet

High prices:India calls for improved farm productivity at G-24 Washington: Terming high global commodity prices as a “grave threat”, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has called for developing countries to increase their investments in agriculture to improve crop productivity. “The recent commodity and food price rise and their volatility constitute a grave threat to economic growth and food security in our economies,” Mukherjee said at a meeting of G-24 Finance Ministers here last evening. [caption id=“attachment_90821” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Mukherjee said the G-24 should continue to push for more ambitious progress on reform of the governance mechanisms. Reuters”]  [/caption] He took over as the new chairman of the group from South African Finance Minister Pravin J Gordhan toward the end of the meeting yesterday. The G-24 grouping comprises 24 developing countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America. It aims to ensure increased representation and participation of developing countries in negotiations on the reform of the international monetary system. Economic development and poverty alleviation, he said, is a challenge and the next few months would be crucial for the global economy. “Increased investment in agriculture and productivity should be the strategic priority of G-24 to cool prices and provide food security to our people. There is a need to ensure transparency in commodity markets,” he said. Mukherjee further said the G-24 should continue to push for more ambitious progress on reform of the governance mechanisms of international financial institutions (IFIs). “The multilateral development banks need to also mobilise more resources to increase their assistance to low income and other developing countries, including finding ways of expanding their lending capacity, so that development finance is not neglected,” he said. The Indian Finance Minister also highlighted the need for building infrastructure in developing countries to promote growth. “Another strategic priority that I hope to see focused action (on), is on the development of infrastructure in our countries. Gaps in infrastructure remain significant bottlenecks to growth,” he said. India offers huge opportunity for investment in infrastructure. Its 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-2017) envisages an investment of $1 trillion on infrastructure to enable the country to maintains its high economic growth rate. PTI