Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said India is moving forward to promote digitalisation and modernisation of agriculture. Modi, who was speaking at the inauguration of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics in Hyderabad, said ICRISAT has experience of five decades of helping other nations in making agriculture easy and sustainable.
He congratulated attending delegates from various countries, employees who have contributed to the research for the past 50 years and asked the ICRISAT management to set up the targets for the next 25 years.
PM Modi released a commemorative postal stamp on the occasion of ICRISAT’s 50th Foundation day. He also launched the Climate Change Research Facility on plant protection. He said that he was very happy to celebrate the Golden Jubilee celebrations on auspicious Vasanthapanchami day which is the birthday of the goddess of knowledge Saraswathi Devi.
Modi hopes that ICRISAT research should show the new path to the world in the agriculture sector and it should contribute to the increase of the cultivation area.
“80 percent of farmers in India are small farmers and they are facing a crisis. Climate changes are showing a negative impact on them. Their expenditure on cultivation should reduce. The scientists need to work harder to strengthen their agriculture,” the Prime Minister said.
Noting that India has six seasons and 15 different climatic conditions, PM Modi said, “There are up to 50 Agro Climate Zones in India. There are drought conditions in 170 districts of the country.” Further, Modi stressed modern methods should be introduced in the agriculture sector and the union government is pushing for such modernisation, evident through the government’s allocation in the recent Union Budget 2022.
“Organic farming is a priority in this budget. We are boosting technology in agriculture. We are allocating funds to increase the use of drones in agriculture and have digitized the details of the cultivable lands, ” Modi said.
The Prime Minister said the recently introduced National Edible Oil Mission-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) indicates India’s new approach. The mission aims to increase palm oil area by 6 lakh hectares. “This will help Indian farmers at every level and will prove very beneficial for the farmers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana”, the Prime Minister said.
PM Modi also hailed steps taken to strengthen post-harvest infrastructure like creating a cold chain storage capacity of 35 million tonnes and set up of 1 lakh crore rupees Agriculture Infrastructure Fund.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomor, Minister for tourism and culture G Kishan Reddy and ICRISAT Director General Dr Jacqueline d’Arros Hughes also participated in the celebrations.
Read all the Latest India News here
Comments
0 comment