Government is hopeful of maintaining a growth rate of around four percent in the agriculture sector this year. Inaugurating the National Conference of Cooperative Ministers in New Delhi on Wednesday, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said that the sector grew by 5.6 percent in 2010-11 against the target of four percent.

Pawar said that with the country expecting record food grain production this year, the government can think of allowing limited exports of wheat. The Minister said that international prices are favourable for allowing exports. He said that around 25 million tonnes of wheat is expected to be procured by Food Corporation of India this year which is far more than the buffer norm of seven million tonnes.

Expressing satisfaction over the disbursement of agriculture credit to the farmers, the Minister said that the credit flow to farmers till February this year was 21 percent higher than the target. He added that nine crore 49 lakh farmers have been issued Kisan Credit Cards.

AIR correspondent reports, ensuring the autonomy of the cooperative sector, disbursement of farm credit through cooperatives and implementation of the Revival Package for Short-Term Cooperative Credit Structure were some of the major points discussed at the conference.