India’s population has surpassed 1.24 billion and to feed so many mouths, it is imperative to rethink and rework on the country’s agricultural sector. Nearly 70 per cent of the country’s population is involved with agriculture directly or indirectly.
But the current state of this sector and its stakeholders has gone worse. In order to find solutions to various challenges relating to agriculture, Narendra Modi led Gujarat Government organised a two day Agricultural Global Summit from Monday.
The first of its kind, summit was attended by Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi along with Punjab Chief Minister, Prakash Singh Badal. Narendra Modi’s vision behind the global summit on agriculture is to bring the global expertise and knowledge to the Indian farmers. Over 4,000 farmers from 29 States, two Union Territories and 542 districts attended the event to discuss, learn and exchange farming knowledge.
Apart from key political figures, the event also saw presence of experts from countries like South Asia, Denmark, Netherland and other African countries along with over 125 companies. While inaugurating the event, Modi said that the summit of the global magnitude was being organised to interact and understand the plight of the Indian farmers and give them a global platform to learn from global experts. “In 1947, 51 per cent of the GDP came from agriculture but now it has been reduced to just 14 per cent. Every day nearly 2,500 farmers are giving up agriculture and switching to new professions. This is a big concern and Government needs to take some action to help boost the country’s agriculture sector.”
Indian farmers have been subjected to a lot of pressure, be it from the rising debts or from the significantly low compensation the Government gives them. “We need to improve the banking system and make the loan process for farmers much simpler. Currently, less than 30 per cent of farmers are only able to raise loans from banks. We also need to put focus on research. For instance, in the last 60 years, no research is carried out on how to improve the production of pulses. Also, the Government needs to spend more on warehouses and cold storages,” Modi added.
Water is another vital part of farming, and with the current scarcity of water, Gujarat Government has started an initiative of ‘per drop more crop’. The initiative is aimed at improving the productivity by minimising wastage of water.
Ashok Gulati, Chairman, Agricultural Costs and Prices, Government of India also added that water will be a big concern in the coming time. He further added, “The biggest challenge is to raise agricultural sector’s contribution to the GDP. Apart from that, water will also be a major concern in the coming days.”
While suggesting ways to increase agriculture’s contribution to the GDP, he said: “Agricultural GDP will come from high value agricultural products for which we have to connect processors and retailers directly to the farmers. Also, currently 80 per cent of the resources are spent on giving subsidies while only 20 per cent are fresh investments in the sector. We need to increase investments and going further farmers need to diversify crops.”
Taking a stand on reducing subsidies and diversifying of crops, Punjab Chief Minister, Prakash Singh Badal said, “Expense cost of farming is increasing due to the rise in diesel prices, which happen almost every month now. In such a situation the Government should not reduce subsidy payments to the farmers. Also, it is very difficult for farms to diversify farming if the Centre is not willing to provide funds. “
With over Rs 30,000 crore combined debt on Punjab farmers, Badal stressed that the Centre should include all the State Governments on issues pertaining to agriculture. He also suggested more interstate exchange of knowledge between the farmers to help increase the total productivity of the country.