Agriculture’s growth key to inclusive growth - Param Vir Singh

Technology driven Agri the only way to good Agri growth

The Confederation of Indian Industry today organized an International Conference on ‘Future of Indian Agriculture –Sustaining Indian Agriculture Growth’ as part of CII Agro Tech 2012. Mr Param Vir Singh, Minister of Agriculture, Haryana was the Chief Guest and he congratulated CII for organizing Agro Tech 2012. “This is an excellent platform to discuss the issues hindering agricultural growth and to find out the ways to address the issues. In order to have inclusive growth, growth in agriculture sector is of paramount importance,” he highlighted.

“Our current Food Production is 250 MT and we must double it by 2040 to feed the ever increasing population. There is an urgent need to undertake the Second Green Revolution by bringing Research Institutions, Industry, governments and farmers together,” emphasised Mr Gokul Patnaik, Chairman, Conferences CII Agro Tech 2012 while chairing the International Conference. “Our aim should be to take technology to the Indian farmer and guide the farmer and the farm industry towards maximum value creation. In order to meet the GDP projected target, we have to register atleast 4 per cent growth in Agriculture sector. There are various concerns which are confronting the agriculture growth in India, we have to overcome them by adopting best agriculture practices, making technology available to the farmers, amending the Agriculture Produce Marketing Act (APMC), adding value to the produce, enabling the private players to invest in Pre and Post Harvest Infrastructure, etc,” he added.

Sharing his thoughts, Mr S Venkatraman, Senior Vice President & Principal, Rabo Equity Advisors talked about various measures to be undertaken to give a fillip to Indian agriculture. He viewed that “There is huge demand and supply gap in food supply. Farming yield is also stagnant and 10-15 per cent post harvest loss is a cause of concern. In order to address the issues, we have to undertake several measures including aggregation of farm land, deployment of new technology, crop diversification, value addition in food chain, investment in food packaging etc.” He also stressed that Dairy and Poultry are sunrise sector for the farmers to increase their income.

Talking about the efforts of The Netherlands in sustaining Indian Agriculture Growth, Mr. Arie Veldhuizen, Counselor for Agriculture, Nature & Food Quality, Embassy of Netherlands said, “Under the Joint Action Plan we have identified areas in the field of Horticulture, Plant Protection Variety, Animal Husbandry in Dairy Production, Food Processing etc. Taking a step forward in this direction, under the action plan, we are setting up two centres of Excellence in Punjab. The first centre will cater to the dairy sector and will focus on Genetic and Animal Health while the other centre will act as a Post Harvest Knowledge Centre for Potato farmers. In these centres, we are going to impart training to the farmers about best agriculture practices to make farming remunerative and at the same time increasing productivity and mitigating losses. We will showcase best technology available in the market and educate the farmer by inviting private players. We have made the project report and work on these centres is likely to be started by the March 2013 and they would commence operation in second half of the next year.”

Mr Salil Singhal, Co-Chairman, CII National Committee on Agriculture shared that “Since 65 per cent of the population is engaged in agriculture, the need of the hour is to revamp agriculture to make it economically viable. We have to bring global technological advancements to the door step of the farmers. Further, we have to bring in reforms in APMC act and fruits and vegetables should not be brought under its ambit, so that corporates can directly source from the farmers. We have to bring private investments as well as incentivize exports to encourage more players to strengthen the supply chain. Policy initiatives are needed to attract private sector investment in organized retail for farm produce with emphasis that bulk of investment shall be in creating farm oriented supply chain. In this regard, the Government’s decision to open the FDI in retail is commendable”.

Suggesting measures for sustaining agriculture, Ms Kim Shukla, President, Prairie Global Management, Canada pointed that “the second revolution can be undertaken by taking three things into consideration: Economy, Social and Environment. She stressed on diversification and horticulture produce.

This year, CII Agro Tech has witnessed large domestic participation and significant international presence, including 45 foreign exhibitors from 8 countries. Punjab & Haryana are the host states, while Ministry of Agriculture, GoI is supporting the event.