<div>The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would, if elected, roll out a programme to boost farm efficiency that its prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, has championed in his home state of Gujarat.</div><div> </div><div>India's main opposition party, which opinion polls show winning the most seats in a general election, is pushing a range of market reforms to differentiate it from the Congress-led government's focus on subsidies.</div><div> </div><div>"A market-centric policy would make the promotion of self-reliance a top priority," said one senior source in the BJP, which hopes to win the five-week election starting on April 7 after a decade in opposition.</div><div> </div><div>A national rollout of a policy based on Gujarat's Soil Health Card scheme could be a centrepiece of policies aimed at improving farming practices and boosting productivity in a sector that accounts for 14 per cent of economic output.</div><div> </div><div><img src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=770d923b-c76b-4f0c-91aa-9f167b128800&groupId=36166&t=1396016550671" width="200" height="200" align="right" alt="" />While no decisions have been taken, a BJP-led government may also review the possibility of allowing genetically modified crops into the food chain. Under Modi, Gujarat has promoted the cultivation of Bt cotton, a genetically modified strain developed by Monsanto that produces its own insecticide.</div><div> </div><div>India has achieved self-sufficiency in grain production, with the introduction of high-yielding Mexican wheat varieties helping to bring about the Green Revolution of the late 1960s.</div><div> </div><div>But low productivity continues to be a major barrier to growth for farming in India, a leading producer of rice, wheat, sugar, soybeans and cotton.</div><div> </div><div>The source also said the party would not aggressively seek foreign investment, but rather promote so-called public-private partnerships in areas such as irrigation and the construction of storage facilities.</div><div> </div><div>India's monsoon-dependent economy lacks irrigation on more than half of its arable land, while warehousing shortages have resulted in huge wastage of wheat surpluses produced in recent bumper harvests.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Gujarat Model</strong></div><div>The BJP has trumpeted Modi's record as chief minister in Gujarat, where farm output has grown on average at an annual rate of 6 per cent over the past three years - about a percentage point higher than the national average.</div><div> </div><div>"The new regime may replicate the successful Soil Health Card scheme of the Gujarat government on the national canvas," said Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, the head of the BJP's Good Governance Cell, a policy unit.</div><div> </div><div>As the chief minister of Gujarat, Modi led a drive to issue soil health cards in order to ensure that farmers use proper methods.</div><div> </div><div>The cards are issued after the soil is tested for properties such as productivity, mineral mix, water </div><div>capacity and salinity.</div><div> </div><div>They also contain information on what types of pesticides, fertilisers and seeds, and how much water should be used to improve productivity, said Sudhir Panwar, president of Kishan Jagriti Manch, a farmers' lobby group.</div><div> </div><div>Panwar said these cards better guide a tiller to adopt new practices on the basis of soil conditions.</div><div> </div><div>"The soil card will promote opportunities for integrated input manufacturers to sell fertilisers, pesticides and insecticides to growers," said Y.K. Alagh, former chairman of the Institute of Rural Management.</div><div> </div><div>(Reuters)</div>
