The objectives of the Ninth Plan include prority to agriculture and rural development with a view to generating adequate productive employment and eradication of poverty, accelerating the growth rate of the economy with stable prices, and ensuring food and nutritional security for all, particularly the vulnerable sections of the society.
The Plan has fixed up an annual growth rate of 4.5 per cent in agriculture through adequate strategy in agro-climatic regions. It also envisages to double the production of food grains in I0 years (Ninth Plan target being 234 million tons) and creating an additional irrigation potential of 17.05 million hectares.