Pics: Dayananda Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network—Mangalore (TU/CN)

Mangalore, Oct 14: ‘Agriculture is the riskiest profession in the universe, India in particular. It is essential that finance and technology components help farmers enhance the agricultural sector,’ said B Shamba Murthi, chairman and managing director, Corporation Bank.

He was addressing delegates at the inaugural ceremony of the two-day seminar on ‘Agri Produce Enrichment’, organized by the Regional Training College, NABARD, at Hotel Goldfinch here on Monday October 13. Murthi added that even though a large part of the nation’s labour force was dependent on agriculture, the contribution of agriculture to national income is only 22 percent.

According to Murthi, productivity and vulnerability are the major challenges in India’s agricultural sector. ‘We produce rice and wheat less than half of that by China. It is a common sight in our country that farmers throw their agricultural products on the roads demanding subsidiary rate".

‘The IT sector can create lacs of jobs, but the preservation of agriculture sector can create millions of jobs. Agro-product industries should be encouraged,’ he opined. He said that there is no need to apply western models to enrich the farm sector in India. Instead of that, there is a need to invent our own models to find solutions to the problems, added Murthi.

S C Kaushik, chief general manager, NABARD head office, and S K Patnaik, joint secretary, National Horticulture Commission, Mumbai, also spoke on the occasion. C N Venkatesan, principal, S J Siddesh, seminar director, and J J Mammon were present.