Samuel Praveen Kumar, Joint Secretary (Extension), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt of India today said that it is imperative to adopt technology and create infrastructure to build a resilient agriculture sector in India.
Addressing the knowledge sharing session ‘Harnessing Agriculture’s Potential- 2035’, organized by FICCI, Kumar stated that earlier the government had a production centric approach in the agriculture sector but now we focus on the entire value chain.
Every country across the world is embracing newer technology, following innovative ways to build a strong agriculture value chain. “By adopting these measures along with the collective efforts of all stakeholders, we can make the Indian agriculture sector more robust, resilient, climate smart to match the global standards,” he added.
To promote infrastructure in the agriculture sector, Kumar said that the government introduced an agriculture infrastructure fund scheme. “Till date, close to Rs 30,000 crore has been disbursed for these projects and this in turn has brought in investments of around Rs 50,500 crore. This is going to change the landscape of the agriculture sector in the country as it is through infrastructure only that we can address the other inefficiencies in the supply chain,” he added.
Speaking on the issue of institutional credit for farmers, he said that it is one of the focus areas of the government. “A robust value chain would ensure that the loss suffered by a farmer should be minimal and evitable including farm or operational loss,” said Kumar.
He stated that technology penetration in the agriculture sector is least as compared to other sectors like education, health, etc., and there is scope to further enhance technology adoption through AI, ML, and deep learning. “The Ministry is using these technology tools to develop a few applications including capturing innovations at the farm level, digital crop survey along with creating the agri-stack,” emphasized Kumar.
Sanjiv Kanwar, Managing Director, YARA South Asia said, “The agri-channels who have been in this space for over 50 years are the original start-ups of Indian agriculture- they believed in the future of Indian agriculture and committed themselves to making India self-sufficient by serving farmers with right agri inputs and technology support. Channel partners must be recognized for providing the last-mile connectivity from lab to land. Through this knowledge sharing session, I congratulate all the channel partners for their commitment and consistency in serving rural India over the past 5 decades. Their contribution to the nation's agricultural growth has been highly appreciable. They have conducted business with a strong sense of purpose serving farmers through the thick and thin over several years to become successful and profit making.”
Siraj Hussain, Advisor, FICCI and Former Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Govt of India said, “FICCI is thrilled to have partnered with Yara India for this knowledge-sharing event, 'Harnessing Agriculture’s Potential – 2035'. This partnership opens doors to explore the needs of input dealers and channel partners. They play an important role in communicating to farmers the advancements in the use of inputs. They enable robust relationships between Indian farmers and emerging scientific technologies."
Ajai Rana, CEO, Savannah Seeds Pvt Ltd said that we can improve our farm production by utilizing high-quality seeds, proper crop nutrition, and efficient mechanization in the farming process.
Kaushal Jaiswal, Co-Chairman, FICCI National Agriculture Committee and MD, Rivulis Irrigation India Pvt Ltd said with so much potential in the agriculture sector, it becomes imperative that the Agri channel partners are suitably identified, supported and handheld so as to mainstream them for the long run.
Deepak Verma, Domain Lead- Agriculture, ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) said that ONDC brings all technology providers on one platform to provide unified solutions to the end user.
Arvind Chaudhary, Director General, the Fertilizer Association of India said that there is a need to create awareness about balanced use of fertilizers in farming. “It is important to conduct soil testing in order to determine the appropriate amount and type of fertilizer needed for optimal crop growth,” he added.
