India, April 8 -- Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday said food security is of paramount importance and called for increasing productivity, reducing the cost of production and ensuring remunerative prices so that farmers earn reasonable profits.

Addressing the Western Zonal Agriculture Conference, Chouhan said India should not only meet its domestic needs but also contribute to global food requirements. "Food security is of paramount importance. In the present global situation, dependence on other countries for food is unacceptable. We must become self-reliant. In wheat and rice, we have made significant progress, and our stocks are full. We also need to become self-sufficient in pulses and oilseeds," he said. He ...