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HomePosts Tagged "NITI Aayog" (Page 2)
AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Environment, Sustainability

A bilingual compendium of success stories of natural farming, consisting of 110 success stories from 13 states across India, was released during the event

NITI Aayog, as a part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations, recently organised a national level workshop on ‘Innovative Agriculture’ in New Delhi.

Dr Neelam Patel, Senior Adviser, Agriculture and Allied Sectors (AAS) Vertical, NITI Aayog welcomed the participants and cited the need to understand the science, fundamentals, and processes behind the practice of natural farming. She hoped that the knowledge, research experience, and expertise of the international experts attending the workshop will aid in building the capacities of the Indian scientists, researchers, and policymakers for the promotion of natural farming in the country.

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, during his address, said “Natural farming is the need of the hour and it is important to identify scientific ways so farmers can be assured direct benefits from natural farming and higher incomes.”

Addressing the workshop, Prof Ramesh Chand, Member, NITI Aayog said “We can give a chance to such alternatives because there is no serious threat to food security since we are food surplus.” He also called for stepwise adoption of natural farming. 

Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Parushottam Rupala pointed out that the awareness about nutritious food, good health and immunity has increased during the pandemic. In this regard, he also highlighted the role of natural farming in providing nutritious food. He stressed the importance of cattle and livestock in ensuring better nutrition. 

Addressing the workshop, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar mentioned that the Government has been encouraging agricultural practices that work in harmony with nature, reduce the cost of production, and ensure good-quality produce and profits for farmers. He also emphasised the importance of science and technology in natural farming.

Acharya Devvrat, Governor of Gujarat, shared his experience regarding how shifting to natural farming has led to a significant reduction in the cost of cultivation, improvement in soil health, and enhancement in yield. He also added that adopting natural farming will help optimise the work of farmers and benefit the environment at large, especially when it comes to the use of water. ‘There is huge scope for bringing in innovations in the agriculture sector through natural farming’, he added.

Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog mentioned that the time is ripe to encourage natural farming and share the benefits with the people at large, especially our farmers. The shared experiences of states will help build a robust roadmap to adopt innovative agricultural practices in the country. He expressed his enthusiasm to come up with a successful road map toward natural farming in India post the workshop. 

A bilingual compendium of success stories of natural farming, consisting of 110 success stories from 13 states across India, was released during the event. 

The workshop had four technical sessions: (i) a panel discussion on natural farming in states, (ii) natural farming for soil health restoration and climate change mitigation, (iii) promotion of natural farming, (iv) innovations in natural farming.

During the first technical session, Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, joined the workshop virtually and highlighted the importance and traditional aspects of cow-based natural farming which helps sequester carbon and improve soil health. Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh mentioned the state’s plan to promote natural farming on both the sides of the banks of the river Narmada and 5,200 villages. YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh stressed the need to enhance research on natural farming and stated the need for support from the Centre for natural agriculture in the ratio of 90:10. The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami spoke about the current status, progress and challenges in natural farming in Uttarakhand. 

In the second technical session, academicians, scientists, researchers, and dignitaries discussed the need to promote regenerative agriculture, strategies to reverse and mitigate climate change with traditional farming systems, the importance of sustainable agroecological food systems in the 21st Century, the role played by natural farming in making agriculture climate-resilient, and the need for green economics for a New India. 

In the third technical session, the need to scale up natural farming, integration of National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) resources, and the role played by Cooperatives and FPOs in the promotion and scaling up of marketing networks and provision of credit support for natural farming was highlighted. Dr Rajeshwar Chandel (Executive Director, Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Kisan Yojana, Himachal Pradesh) spoke about the Community based certification process in Natural Farming. Dr Baljit Saharan (Associate Prof. Haryana Agriculture University) said, “Improved soil biology and biodiversity play an important role in the promotion of natural farming.”

In the last technical session, innovations like pre-monsoon dry sowing, experiences in managing crop residue while practising natural farming, and mechanisation and automation for input preparations and applications in natural farming were shared.

More than 1250 participants from central ministries, state governments, industry, farmers, academic and research institutions, KVK’s and NGOs, delegates from national and international organizations in agriculture and allied sectors, and international delegates from France, Australia and Germany joined the workshop physically and virtually. 

A bilingual compendium of success stories of

Pulses, Types

The estimated production of pulses in 2021-22 as per the DA&FW is 26.96 million tonnes

The Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha has informed that as per the report of Working Group constituted by NITI Aayog on Demand and Supply Projections Towards 2033 – Crops, Livestock and Agricultural Inputs (February 2018), the demand for pulses is projected to increase from 26.72 million tonnes in 2021-22 to 32.64 million tonnes in 2029-30. The estimated production of pulses in 2021-22 as per the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (DA&FW) is 26.96 million tonnes.

The Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare implements the National Food Security Mission (NFSM), a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, which aims at increasing production of rice, wheat, pulses, coarse cereals and nutri-cereals through area expansion and productivity enhancement in the identified districts of the country; improving soil fertility, farm level productivity besides, transfer of technology through demonstrations and trainings, incentives on critical inputs like quality seeds, water saving devices, farm equipment and machinery etc. 

To boost agricultural productivity, the Government is implementing various schemes for supply of farm inputs such as seeds, fertilisers, agricultural machinery and equipment, irrigation facilities, institutional credit, etc., at subsidised rates to the farmers.

The estimated production of pulses in 2021-22

Agrotech, Finance, Trade

The virtual webinar had the topic of ‘Agriculture Ecosystem: Expectations from Budget 2022’

PHDCCI recently organised a virtual webinar on ‘Agriculture Ecosystem: Expectations from Budget 2022.’ The webinar started with a welcome address by Deepak Pahwa, Chair, FTIC Committee, PHD Chamber. Pahwa said, “Recuperating from the impact of two years of a pandemic, India is working hard to gain from every opportunity to strengthen its position at the global level and utilise the opportunity of trade diversion from China.”

Pradeep Multani, President, PHDCCI in his address mentioned that agriculture continues to be a dominating employment generating sector and contributes a significant proportion to the country’s GDP. He highlighted on identifying areas and crops to integrate the benefit of micro-irrigation with structured governance and execution strategy will help the country climb a newer height of fiscal growth.

BK Sabharwal, Chair, Capital Market & Commodity Market Committee, PHDCCI highlighted that in the Union Budget 2021, the government had a farm credit target of Rs16.5 trillion, which is likely to be revised in Budget 2022 to Rs 18.5 trillion.

Rajesh Kumar Dangeti, Regional Director (Northern Regional Office), SEBI, in his Chief Guest Address said that India is one of the highest producers of many agricultural products in the world. He also highlighted some of the problems which the farmers face with inflation in agricultural products, over-dependence on climate changes, storage facilities, depletion in groundwater, air pollution and environmental sustainability and many others.

This was followed by a speech by Sanjay Aggarwal, Former President, PHDCCI, who stated that India should expedite the signing of free trade agreements with the US, the UAE, Australia, Japan and other countries. According to him, the government should also take up the issue of restoring GSP status with the US as it is the major market for India. Zero duty under GSP status will make Indian exporters more competitive at the global level, is what he opined.

Badri Narayanan Gopalakrishnan, Lead Advisor (Trade and Commerce), NITI Aayog, Government of India said that new foreign trade policy will capture all aspects of new and growing challenges of the exporters and designed in an appropriate way to support the industry to overcome the challenges of the next 10 years.

Niti Bhasin, Delhi School of Economics, the University of Delhi in his speech talked about the New Foreign Trade Policy that should focus on incentivising the export products which are contributing significantly to the exports and has a comparative advantage for India to become a more competitive and balanced trade destination.

Nirmal Khandelwal, Co-Chair, Foreign Trade and Investment Committee, PhD Chamber suggested establishing a body to support MSMEs so that they can be part of GCV (global value chain ) and exports. Loans for the exporter are available at a very high rate in comparison to other emerging economies, so there is a need to rationalise the rate of the loan for exporters.

Bimal Jain, Chair, Indirect Tax Committee, PHD Chamber urged for synchronisation among foreign trade policy, GST laws and customs to make India more Attamanirbhar Bharat.

Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist, Bank of Baroda, stated that agriculture is the backbone of the economy. He talked about the NREGA project, capital expenditure on agriculture including warehousing, transportation & irrigation facilities.

Sandeep Jain, Director, Tradeswift Broking, focussed on improving agriculture GDP so that the country can witness a consumption revolution.

Kapil Dev, Chief Business Officer, NCDEX talked about the MSP, measures to bring down the cost of production and the government’s long-term approach to improving infrastructure in the agriculture sector.

RN Bhaskar moderated the session and emphasised vibrant future markets for agriculture and subsidies in the agriculture sector.

The virtual webinar had the topic of