Sompal was speaking to the journalists in an informal chat after after presiding over the 15th AGM of the National Water Development Agency Society here on Tuesday said that the 200-page draft agriculture policy document has been diligently worked out by the experts and `it is in no way a copy of the Ninth Plan document or those worked out by the previous government' as alleged by a section of the press. He also denied that neither the prime minister nor the PMO has so far been in disagreement with any of the provisions laid down in the policy. The policy document contains concrete strategies for boosting agricultural production, growth of animal husbandry and fisheries andmarketing of produces.

He said that the policy document contains suggestions for consolidation of land holdings, provisions for leasing in and leasing out of land, development of cold chains and storage facilities in rural areas.Setting up of marketing infrastructure, cataloguing of natural resources in every villages, diversification of agriculture into horticulture and other commercial crops, providing a separate TV channel for agriculture, making extension services financially viable and effective are also on the agenda . Apart from these there are programmes for watershed development and development of wasteland and other irrigation facilities.