The
Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has said that entrepreneurship
development is an integral part of farming process to increase the
profitability of farming. He was addressing the gathering after inaugurating
the 9th ‘Agrovision’ Workshops, National Expo & Conference, in Nagpur,
Maharashtra today. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Devendra Fadnavis, the
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Water Resources and Ganga
Rejuvenation, Shri Nitin Gadkari, the Minister of energy, New and Renewable
Energy, Maharashtra, Shri Chandrashekhar Bawankule, the Minister of agriculture
and Horticulture, Maharashtra, Shri Pandurang Fundkar and other dignitaries
were present on the occasion.
The
Vice President said that unless we create a value chain involving the producer
till consumer the profitability of farming shall not improve. He further said
that in the last few years there has been an agrarian crisis and the
profitability of farm sector has declined. This is mainly because farmers have
medium to small holdings, and poor market access and also too much dependence
on few crops and very little diversification, he added.
The
Vice President said that Agrovision has now emerged as the Central India’s
Largest Agri Summit and is strengthening the confidence of farmers to make
agriculture an economically viable and a sustainable profession. The prosperity
of the nation is linked to the betterment of farming community and naturally
they need to be enlightened on the use of modern technologies for achieving
sustainability and profitability, he added.
The
Vice President said that the farmers of this country made the nation self
sufficient in food milk, vegetables, fruits, cotton sugar and many other
agricultural produce through a series of revolutions like green, white and blue
revolutions. Unfortunately the increased production has not resulted in
proportional increase in the farmers’ income, he added.
The
Vice President said that the vision of our founding fathers was to have an
India that is prosperous, Peaceful and progressive. He further said that the Agrovision
carries a similar vision to drive its mission forward and in order to move
towards home grown food Security, we have to create an effective agricultural
eco-system. Knowledge sharing and encouraging adoption of new technologies is
an integral and key part of this eco-system, he added.
Following
is the text of Vice President’s address:
“I am extremely happy to participate in this mega exhibition
organized by Agrovision.
I understand that this has been an annual feature and lakhs of
farmers visit this event and gain knowledge from the exhibition, workshops and
conferences organized along with the exhibition of modern Technology.
It is a matter of great satisfaction to me that you educate the
farmers by arranging free workshops on diverse areas of agriculture so that
they can improve their living from the farm sector. Another activity that is
praise worthy is arranging special conferences on topical issues that
attract agri-entrepreneurs in this region.
I firmly believe that unless we create a value chain involving the
producer till consumer the profitability of farming shall not improve.
Therefore, events like this can play a major role in transforming the current
agricultural situation.
Vidarbha and surrounding regions are mainly dependent on rain with
very little irrigation. However, the area is endowed with fertile soil, good
sunshine and hard working peasants.
In the last few years there has been an agrarian crisis. The
profitability of farm sector has declined. This is mainly because farmers have
medium to small holdings, and poor market access. Another reason for the
distress is too much dependence on few crops and very little diversification.
Farmers have to move to horticulture, animal husbandry, processing
and several such allied sectors if their incomes have to be improved.
Realizing the need to diversify agriculture and to create value
chain, visionary leader and chief Patron of Agrovision Shri Nitin
Gadkariji, recognized the need for a platform to educate, innovate and
encourage the farmers of this region nearly a decade ago. Today’s
9th edition of this event is a testimony of its success.
I am glad that through Agrovision, special efforts are being made
to educate farmers about the modern farm practices and new technologies. Here
farmers, researchers, entrepreneurs, Policy Makers & other stake holders
connected with agriculture come face to face to deliberate & discuss about
various developments as well as current challenges in agriculture.
Agrovision has now emerged as the Central India’s Largest
Agri Summit and is strengthening the confidence of farmers to make
agriculture an economically viable and a sustainable profession. I am happy to
learn that many farmers from other states like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan will
participate in this event along with farmers from adjoining states like AP,
Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
Agriculture is the culture of this great country and around 52%
people are directly dependent for their survival on agriculture. The prosperity
of the nation is linked to the betterment of farming community and naturally
they need to be enlightened on the use of modern technologies for achieving
sustainability and profitability. The efforts of Agrovision are highly
commendable and need to be replicated all over the country.
The farmers of this country made the nation self sufficient in
food milk, vegetables, fruits, cotton sugar and many other agricultural produce
through a series of revolutions like green, white and blue revolutions.
Unfortunately the increased production has not resulted in
proportional increase in the farmers’ income.
This is mainly because of the eMphasis on primary produce and not
linking it to market and secondary process product development.
The next revolution shall come through development of the value
chain and sharing the profit with primary producer, the farmer.
Entrepreneurship development, therefore, is an integral part of
farming process to increase the profitability of farming. I am told that
AGROVISION emphasizes linking the produce to processing and marketing and
therefore has invited several entrepreneurs to participate in this event along
with farmers.
I congratulate all those involved in organization of this mega
event.
In the past, Vidarbha was known for the crops of Cotton, Soybean
and Oranges but in recent years other crops like Sugarcane, Rice, Pulses,
Pomegranate, Turmeric, Ginger have seen a remarkable production here.
The real impact of this event can be gauged from the fact that
many farmers are now planting pomegranate, custard Apple, amla, dragon fruit
and other dry land fruit crops and getting huge benefits from farming. A
current evaluation of impact has shown that in the last five years, pomegranate
cultivation which was just 100 acres in this region in 2010-11 has
now reached 5000 acres in all the western Vidarbha districts. Milk production
has shown an upward trend. Sugarcane cultivation and sugar production have
improved the quality of life of the farmers.
Agrovision has achieved its goal of creating awareness about
diversification of farming. Farmers are moving away from cotton- soyabean,
millet and making a shift to Dairy, Horticulture, Sericulture, Bee Keeping,
Floriculture and Polyhouse farming.
The vision of our founding fathers was to have an India that is
prosperous, peaceful and progressive. Agrovision carries a similar vision to
drive its mission forward. In order to move towards home grown food security,
we have to create an effective agricultural eco-system.
Knowledge sharing and encouraging adoption of new technologies is
an integral and key part of this eco-system. I congratulate Gadkariji who
pioneered this initiative and the organizers of this event for revitalizing
Indian agriculture.
Intensification and diversification as well as end-to-end
processing hold the key to improving the lives of farmers.
Successive governments have been taking up a number of reform
measures to strengthen the ecosystem but I think more time-bound, systematic
and systemic efforts are called for. Irrigation is of course the most crucial
factor.
In addition to irrigation, the government is rightly focusing on
Infrastructure like rural roads, dependable quality power, godowns, cold
storage facilities, refrigerated vans and market yards.
Two other important building blocks of a robust ecosystem are
timely credit facilities at reasonable Interest Rates and farmer-friendly
insurance policies. These allow for farmers to invest in better,
income-generating crops and agricultural practices and increase their incomes.
The insurance cover shields the farmers against unforeseen climatic and natural
disasters. The kisan credit cards and the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
(PMFBY) are steps in the right direction and need to be universalized.
Marketing of agricultural produce and getting a fair return is a
big challenge for most farmers. A new initiative called E-NAM seeks to remedy
this situation by adopting an e-trading platform for agricultural produce.
The Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act is also being
proposed to be amended by introducing single-point levy of market fee across a
State and a united single trading licence.
I see Agro-vision is an important step in enhancing awareness and
transforming Indian agriculture to make it more productive.
I hope to see more such initiatives in many more states in our
country in the months to come.
JAI
HIND!”
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KSD/BK
