The government has denied any shortfall of quality seeds for Kharif 2010. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, the Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar said that nearly 142 lakh quintals of quality seeds are available against the requirement of over 123 lakh quintals projected by the states. To another question on food security, the Minister said that the government is concerned about the declining growth in the food production and its increasing demand. He informed the house that the decadal percentage increase in food production from 1966-67 to 1976-77 was nearly 50 per cent but this subsequently came down to about 9 per cent during the decade between 1996-97 to 2006-07. He said the studies indicate that there will be an estimated demand of 280 million tonnes of the food grains in 2020, which points to the need for achieving higher growth rate in Agriculture. He also outlined several initiatives taken by the government in this regard. In reply to another question, Mr. Pawar said total agricultural land in the country has marginally declined from 183.19 million hectares in 2003-04 to 182.44 million hectares in 2007-08. There has also been decline in the barren land in the country.<br/>