From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Feb 8: ICAR deputy director-general Dr A K Singh said the new agriculture laws will benefit the farmers and the agriculture sector.
The protesting farmers on Delhi borders have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of Minimum Support Price and scrap the mandis leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.
The centre has maintained the MSP and mandi systems would continue and would be rather further improved and strengthened. These reforms would bring private investment, create jobs in villages and make agriculture profitable.
The laws would also help farmers store their produce in warehousing or cold storage units that would come up as a result of the reforms and sell them when they get better rates.
Addressing National Horticulture Fair 2021 virtually on Monday, Dr Singh felt the farm laws have great potential for horticulture crop diversification and farmers are going to realize a better price in the future. By reducing middlemen, the marketing margin can reduce, and the farmers can receive a larger share of benefits in terms of the price of their produce, he said.
"The new agriculture laws will benefit the peasantry and the agriculture sector. They have great potential for farmers to grow different types of crops, especially horticulture crops more in number. Down the line, farmers are going to realize a better price for their produce," he said.
Dr Singh said the government’s proactive policies and farmers’ untiring efforts have ensured the horticultural crop production to surpass the food grain productions for five consecutive years.
ICAR initiatives
The horticultural sector’s steady growth and significant contribution to the Indian economy. The technologies developed by ICAR have significantly contributed to increasing agriculture production.
He said schemes like attracting and retaining youth in agriculture scheme and the student READY (Rural Entrepreneurship Awareness Development Yojana) scheme were proving to be very effective in attracting rural educated youth to agriculture. The agri-business incubation centres were also encouraging new start-ups and these steps taken by ICAR will provide employment opportunities to the youth along with income enhancement of the farmers.
Several steps have been taken at different levels including providing training to the farmers at KrishiVigyanKendras on various subjects related to agriculture under the Entrepreneurship Development Programs (EDPs) and support with technical resources. ICAR has enabled exports of high-quality horticulture crops like apple, litchi, and guava among other fruits.
Dr Singh said banana production and productivity in the country have risen and are meeting increased demand worldwide. Banana cultivation in India has made rapid strides due to technologies developed by the research institutions which upon successful field demonstration had given the confidence to farmers to adopt them on a large scale, he said
A container carrying 21 tonnes of the Grand Naine variety of banana from Tamil Nadu’s Theni district had left Kochi port on November 1, 2018, on a sea voyage of 24 days to the Port of Trieste, Italy.
Director-general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Dr Trilochan Mohapatra said ICAR has developed 51 organic cropping systems suitable for adoption in 12 states.
He also said that the Indian Council of Agricultural Research Institutes has taken steps to develop and promote sustainable farming practices in India through the use of technology.
ICAR has created 63 Integrated Farming System (IFS) models by involving various ICAR Institutes, state Agri Universities and farming community of 18 states. These models that have the potential to increase farmers’ income by 2 to 3 times in 3 to 4 years are suitable to 26 states and union territories in the country.
Dr Mohapatra stressed the need for supporting evidence-based decision making through data analytics by creating investments in infrastructure and capacity building and filling-up the data gaps by investments in infrastructure, diversification in agriculture, and providing easy market access to the farmers.
It is important for identifying how data can serve as an important resource not just for farm-related decision support, but (more importantly) the farmer-centric policymaking in the developing countries.
He emphasized the need for linking science, technology, and innovation with entrepreneurship for not only retaining youth in agriculture but also to create employment by making the entire value chain in agriculture, a profitable proposition.
Art of leaving founder Sri Sri Ravishankar inaugurated the event and said India must adopt organic farming for its sustainability.
He also stressed to change the food culture and to promote desi food to develop the immune system.
IIHR director Dr MR Dinesh said that to promote Atmanirbhar Bharat NHF will encourage the farmers to take up horticulture as entrepreneurship. In coming days many more entrepreneurs will take horticulture as entrepreneurship, he said.
NHF organizing secretary Dr M V Dhananjay was present in the function.