Singh placed in detail the programmes implemented by Ministry of Agriculture at NAARM

NEW DELHI: Union Minister,Radha Mohan Singh  addressed the State agriculture scientists at National Academy of Agriculture Research Management, Hyderabad on Friday. During interaction with agriculture scientists  Singh placed in detail the programmes implemented by Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

In order to give importance to agricultural sector, Government of India has initiated several initiatives for sustainable development of agriculture in Central Budget for the year 2016-17. The Government has already taken initiatives for the solution of two important factors (soil and water) relating to improvement in agricultural production. Steps have been taken to issue Soil Health Card Scheme and to improve soil fertility on a sustainable basis through traditional agricultural development and planning to promote organic agriculture.

Also, to improve farm income of farmers and to improve use of water effectively through irrigation system under Prime Minister Irrigation Scheme, creation of a integrated national agriculture market has also been included so that ‘per drop, more productivity’ is achieved. In addition to this, greater emphasis is being given to implement Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme on a priority basis so that it is ensured that from ‘field to ground’, farmers are protected. Our premier institutes engaged with agriculture, like Indian Agriculture Research Council, Agricultural Universities and other departments of Government of India are also implementing Soil Health Card Scheme at grass root level.

Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare has signed MOU/contracts with 52 countries, which includes United State of America. Further, Departmentof Agricultural Research and Education Department (DARE) and Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairy and Fisheries have also signed MOU/contracts with other countries, which have resulted into our participatory development with total 63 countries. With these agreements/MOU there will be improved facilities available in several sectors.

In the present scenario, Information and Communication Technology has a significant role not only in dissemination of knowledge, but also to achieve economic gains. For distributing digital data and to provide access to farmers to information through mobile and internet connectivity, the Ministry has started wed enabled Farmer Portal and Mobile enabled M-Farmers SMS Portal, Farmers Call Center and DD Farmer Channel and two Mobile Apps.

In order to help our farmers to get benefit of market, an initiative has been taken, namely National Agriculture Market in which a common E-Market Platform of 585 regulated markets of the country will be set up so that farmers can sell their products through E-Marketing.

There are many challenges before our scientists such as land degradation, water, climate change, emerging diseases and energy. To overcome these new areas of research are being explored. We havefixed a target to resolve major challenges like sustainable production system, food security, health and nutrition, environment and organic diversity and we have proving successful in addressing them through agriculture research. We believe that we can resolve complex challenges through our young scientists and agriculture research.

In this meeting the State Agriculture Minister , Officers of Government India, ICAR and Agriculture University were also present. .