New Delhi, January 19( Commoditiescontrol) Dr. Ashok Dalwai, IAS, CEO, National Rainfed Area Authority & Chairman, Empowered Body, Doubling Farmers Income Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, GOI, has said that that in the 21st century, a new technological revolution is empowering the agricultural sector like never before. He was addressing a webinar on “The Growth Engine of Present Day Agriculture” previous day.
Dalwai emphasised the importance of promoting High Value Agriculture (HVA), which includes Horticulture, Dairy & Livestock, Fisheries & Aquaculture, and is critical to income revolution of farmers. HVA needs a robust Agriculture Value Chain, hence building of strong agri-logistics including cold chain and processing, is critical.
With the objective of discussing the factors and multitude of opportunities along with the prevailing issues in the agricultural sector that must be addressed in order to enhance the agri-business across various agricultural verticals of India the Agribusiness Committee of PHDCCI organized a webinar on “The Growth Engine of Present Day Agriculture” on 18th January, 2022 (Tuesday) under the Webinar Series “Strategies for Doubling Farmers’ Income - Marching towards an Income Revolution of Farmers”.
Pradeep Multani, President, PHDCCI in his presidential address said that, the target of Doubling Farmers’ Income by 2022 has brought a major change in the focus of the agricultural sector from the traditional production orientation to income orientation and created renewed interest among the agricultural research community, policy makers, state authorities, extension agencies, private players, industry professionals, the farming community, youths, students, and all major stakeholders in the country.
Dr. Sudhanshu Secretary Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) Ministry of Commerce and Industry, GoI highlighted on the Agriculture Export Policy (AEP) and discussed about the development in various clusters identified. Farmers can be educated about export-oriented quality production by working with Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs), Cooperatives etc. The farmers can be sensitised for having an export-oriented quality production. In collaboration with these organisations, APEDA is working with farmer groups to build a sufficient amount of capacity so that farmers know what kind of crops are to be grown based on demand.
Dr. HP Singh Chairman, Confederation of Horticulture Associations of India (CHAI) Former DDG (Hort.) ICAR; Vice Chancellor – RAU, Bihar; Horticulture Commissioner, GoI highlighted that, horticulture today is at the stage of 'modern horticulture', which has been immensely powered by technology. Horticulture has always been an early adopter of technology, driving its growth over the years. He discussed about various technologies being adopted in Horticulture Value Chain. It is high time for the inclusion of the Horticulture Sector in the priority sector, because it comprises a wide array of verticals that have huge potential for doubling farmers' income and providing nutritional security.
Dr. RK Singh Former Director-cum-Vice Chancellor ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Uttar Pradesh, Indian Council of Agricultural Research informed that the key factor driving the global animal health market is the growing number of R&D activities in the veterinary pharmaceutical sector to facilitate real-time disease analysis, as well as the emerging trend of pet humanizations. Based on the animal type, the global animal health market has been segmented into commercial animals and companion animals. Currently, commercial animals hold the majority of the total market share. He discussed the importance of the livestock sector for increasing farmers’ income.
Dr. L. Narasimha Murthy, Senior Executive Director, National Fisheries Development Board, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, GoI informed about the challenges and opportunities in the fisheries sector. He discussed in detail about the schemes of the GoI for promoting inland and marine fisheries. He emphasised on the creation of post-harvest infrastructure to reduce losses, which will add to the farmers’ income.
(By Commodities control Bureau; +91 9820130172)