Shri Venkaiah Naidu, Hon’ble Union Minister of Urban Development urges for cooperation and coordination among all parties to overcome Farm Crisis

The 8^th Agriculture Leadership Summit organised by Agriculture Today Group has been inaugurated at Taj Palace in New Delhi today. The discussion platform, in its inaugural session was esteemed by the presence of Prof. MS Swaminathan, the pioneer of India’s Green Revolution, Hon’ble Union Minister of Urban Development, Mr. M. Venkaiah Naidu, and H.E. Mr. Alphonsus Stoelinga, Hon’ble Ambassador of Netherlands to India, Sh. Om Prakash Dhankar, Agriculture Minister of Haryana, Mr. Siraj Hussain, Agriculture Secretary, GoI and Dr. MJ Khan, President, Agriculture Today Group. The theme for this year’s summit is Sustainable Agriculture for Food and Nutritional Security.

Professor MS Swaminathan began his welcome address by pointing out the issues of contemporary relevance in the field of agriculture. Collating the theme of this year’s summit with United Nation’s Sustainable Development Decade, he expressed the aptness of the occasion to deliberate upon this theme. Prof. Swaminathan said that in order to address the issue of sustainability, it is essential to identify the causes of un-sustainability. These causes are primarily related to ecology and economy. In terms of economy, he pointed out the soil health card, and its relevance in managing soil-related issues. Water conservation, he said, is another major concern related to ecology. He said that NREGA can play a very crucial role in water conservation. Rain water harvesting must be made mandatory in a monsoon-dependent economy like ours. Water farming, is soon going to attain greater relevance in Indian agriculture. Talking about biodiversity, Prof. Swaminathan said that preservation should be everyone’s responsibility, and preparation of anticipatory action in terms of climate change should be realized and initiated at an individual level. For economic sustainability, he pointed at the need to relook into input-output pricing and import-export policy. He talked about improving employment prospects in agriculture, focusing on new skill formation, value chain creation and linkage, utilization and promotion of renewable energy sources, like biogas plant, fertilizer trees etc. He stressed on encouraging and empowering women participation and equality in agriculture.

Hon’ble Union Minister of Urban Development, Mr. M. Venkaiah Naidu, while releasing the Agriculture Year Book 2015 and Prof. MS Swaminathan’s book ‘Hunger-Free India’, said that the agriculture sector has been neglected by people who influence public opinion and policy decisions. Organized sector, urbanization and sensations have been the focus of the media, and politics. He urged the need to change the mindset of media, politics and planning bodies. Reforms and inclusive growth can be achieved if all parties join hands to ensure proper steps are taken to develop agriculture. The government has a 4I’s policy – focusing on irrigation, infrastructure, interest rates and insurance. To achieve success in all these fields, states and the centre will have to work together. Government has sanctioned 8, 50,000 crore for rural credit. MNREGA, lab to land (every research should reach farmer), technology transfer, supply of institutional credit, stable market framework, conservation of natural resources and bio-diversity, water management are the issues that we need to take care of. The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchhayee Yojana is trying to tackle irrigation-related issues, and the government is keen on second phase of Green and White revolution while giving a fillip to Blue Revolution. Commenting in the need for change in the practices and mind-set of the farmers, he stressed on diversification and use alternative crops (millets, pulses). More participation should be seen from people, like in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, where watershed and rain water harvesting have been very successful models.

H.E. Mr. Alphonsus Stoelinga, Hon’ble Ambassador of Netherlands to India, expressed his pleasure and talked about India’s association with Netherlands, which dates back to a long time.  Netherlands, with its age-old relation and culture of farming, has been running numerous programmes to share its expertise and experiences with the Indian agri industry. Netherland is training Indian palm oil farmers to minimize energy and water utilization. Various institutes, technology centres are bringing the Dutch technology to India, the adaption of which is strengthening the relations between the two nations.

Mr. Siraj Hussain, Agriculture Secretary, GoI talked about the various initiatives being taken, being and planned by the government towards sustainable agriculture. He said that the government has provided 50,000 crores under its PM Krishi Yojana, and has also provided funds for recharge of water sources. He said that the market for the farmers needs to be made more remunerative and pricing needs to revise for improved market linkage. He expressed the government’s intention to create electronic market linkage, taking example from Karnataka, which has electronic market linkage. The government has proposed this in 10 more states. The government will be give grant to at least 100 mandi’s to create electronic trading platform, in order to integrate mandi’s in the state. Extension is the second focus of the government, where initiative should come from the farmer, industry and private players, since he government extension mechanism has its own shortcomings.  The government is also working on an insurance scheme offering low premium, but it will demand greater discipline in terms of core banking software and computerization.

Sh. Om Prakash Dhankar, Agriculture Minister of Haryana said hat crop, infrastructure and market management are the major challenges faced by agriculture. More coordination is demanded on the part of society, sarkar (government) and bazaar (market). The disparity in pricing is a deterrent, and hampers the creation of leadership in agri-output market. The input sector is well linked and coordinated, but the output market is hugely neglected. We must adopt organic techniques and stop over and misuse. Innovations like Amul are required. 

Dr. MJ Khan, President, Agriculture Today Group expressed the need for reforms in the agriculture sector through an integrated approach. He stressed on the importance of Green Revolution and output in agriculture, where the farmer should be the focus while devising policies. He shared news about Indian Council of Food and Agriculture, which is being launched today, after planning, deliberations and studying various models worldwide, which have serving as a single platform to address issues in agriculture and be a think tank, facilitative research engine linking all the stakeholders in agriculture.

With regards,