There is a need to look for sustainable agriculture and this can be achieved through integration of ecological, economic, environmental and social aspects.
‘Agricultural Scientists’ Meet’ is a significant event of the India International Science Festival 2020. It provides a common platform for agricultural scientists, innovative farmers, teachers and students to actively participate and discuss on various emergent topics such as Synergism and trade-offs in sustainable agriculture, NRM— challenges and policy framework, Precision farming technologies & agricultural production systems, Data-driven technologies in agriculture and their management, and Innovation and agriculture. The event aims at catering the need to reduce the impact of weather vagaries on agriculture and make agriculture a reliable income earning pursuit for marginal stakeholders.
Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India, Kailash Choudhary inaugurated the two-day Agricultural Scientists’ Meet as part of India International Science Festival 2020. Other dignitaries on the occasion were Prof. Ramesh Chand, Member, NITI Aayog; Dr T Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) and DG, ICAR. Around 200 participants including scientists, students and farmers attended the programme.
The Chairman of the session, Dr R B Singh, Ex-Chancellor, CAU, Imphal, cautioned that the resources are not inherited from our parents but we borrow them from our children. He emphasized the need of big data analysis, artificial intelligence for decision support system. He pointed out that agriculture greatly impacts all pillars of our structure– environmental, economic and social sustainability. He focused on sustainable agriculture for zero hunger and poverty free nation.
Prof Kamal Vatta stated that there is a need to look for sustainable agriculture and this can be achieved through integration of ecological, economic, environmental and social aspects. Synergies are achievable at lower scale but when scale increases it becomes difficult to maintain the synergy in the system, so scale is very important. He expressed that despite research support and evidence of no productivity loss, farmers are reluctant to adopt sustainable agricultural practices only because of lack of economic incentive. He expressed his desire that economic incentives must be given to the farmers for adoption of sustainable technologies.
