At the recently held AgriTech Summit, Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmer Welfare emphasised that agriculture is a very important sector for our country and we accept the primacy of agriculture. In this regard, work is being done in the direction of its progress, changes in it, inclusion of policies, cooperation, etc. There are 86 per cent small farmers in the country, who have small acreage and cannot invest much. The government is working to take these farmers forward, without whom neither agriculture nor the country will progress.
The government has started the work of creating 10,000 new FPOs. Of these, 3,000 have become FPOs. If small farmers join these FPOs, then the area under cultivation increases, the collective power of the farmer’s increases. If there is only one type of farming, then production will increase and farmers will be able to get good price. This effort is being made to increase the income of the farmers. Tomar added, “The government is also working in the field of pulses and oilseeds. Both were areas of scarcity. Farmers have ventured into pulses and have made huge leaps in production. There is still a gap in oilseeds, for which the government is working on the oilseed mission”.
He also said that there is a need to deal with the challenges of the agriculture sector, how technology should be introduced in it, how to increase the availability of private investment, how to create employment opportunities. Talking about technology in the agriculture sector, Tomar said that the government is working on Digital Agri Mission so that the farmers can reach the government and the government can reach all the farmers. If transparency will increase through technology, then all the farmers will be able to get the full benefits of all the schemes.
