Chief Economic Advisor to Finance Ministry Kaushik Basu has expressed optimism that farm sector may see 5 per cent growth in the country from October- December and January-March quarters. He said in New Delhi the overall economic growth was expected to cross 9 per cent. Basu, however, added that the economies of Europe and the US must remain stable. In reply to a question, he hinted overall inflation might remain high due to global food situation which has worsned.Higher Investment in agricultural sector and rural infrastructure have addressed some of the major challenges facing the sector in the beginning of Eleventh Five year plan. Official sources say performance of agriculture sector has been quite satisfactory as per the mid term appraisal of the eleventh plan. This, according to the sources, is due to Government's emphasis on increasing production and productivity, strengthening of agricultural potential in rain fed areas, increasing availability of credit to farmers at reasonable rates and introduction of frontiers technology to make agriculture climate resilient among other things. The Agriculture Ministry in its release stated that the cropped area under pulses till Friday has increased to 122.49 lakh hectares compared to 117.79 last year. The country is poised for a record production of pulses this season.