The Odia Samaj, New Delhi, organised a webinar on the topic “Odisha Ra Krushi O Atmanirvarata” on an online platform through video conferencing.The webinar was graced by Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan as chief guest.
Former IRS Sidhartha Pradhan, who is president of the Odia Samaj, was too present.The distinguished panel of speakers included Director General Administrative Staff College of India Dr SK Pattanayak, Secretary and DG, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Principal Secretary, State Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment Dr Saurabh Garg, Union Joint Secretary, Agriculture, Prashant Kumar Swain, , Managing Director, NAFED (National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation of India Ltd.) Sanjeev Kumar Chadha. Over 550 agro-entrepreneurs, agriculturalists, representatives from various agro industries, intellectuals and students participated in the webinar.
With the enactment of New Farm Acts and liberalisation of policies, now farmers are going to enjoy more freedom in production, storage and marketing of their products, said Minister Pradhan.
He said all policy makers, social organisations, banking institutions and intellectuals should come forward and join hands to create an eco-system in Odisha with the aim to make at least 1 lakh youth self-reliant in agriculture sector.
Pattanayak highlighted various aspects of the new farm Act. Dr Mohapatra gave his viewpoints on various pre-harvest interventions required for enhancing farm productivity, diversification of agri-allied mix, agri production clusters, and deployment of technology in agricultural sector. Dr Garg presented the agriculture roadmap of Odisha. Chadha spoke about various post harvest interventions including procurement, logistic facilities, warehousing and storage facilities.