In sync with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new agricultural mission to double farm incomes by the year 2022, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is going all out to promote agriculture sector in Rajasthan.
Through its three day Global Rajasthan Agritech Meet(GRAM) which will be held in November in Jaipur the State is also set to promote organic farming as its main focus. Neelkamal Darbari Principal Secretary, Agriculture & Horticulture, told The Pioneer on Monday in Bengaluru that State Government would focus on organic farming as it has large tract of land traditionally dedicated to organic farming.
She said “Rajasthan with its vast tracts of naturally organic land, provides immense opportunities for organic farming. Dungarpur is being developed as an ‘organic district’. Opportunities exist for companies engaged in developing & marketing organic crop varieties, and also for organic farm produce processing & exporting companies”.
“Rajasthan is a strong performer in agriculture with 10 agro climatic zones. The State Government had initiated many policy changes in agriculture in the recent past that relates to technological and infrastructural interventions for sustainable enhancement of farm productivity, reducing harvest losses and promoting farm based industries” she added.
The GRAM aims at technological and infrastructural interventions for sustainable enhancement of farm productivity, reducing post-harvest losses, promoting farm based industries and ensuring higher return to the farmer while delivering better quality products to consumers .
She said “Through GRAM we want to expose our farmers to the best technological advancements and global best-practices while showcasing investment opportunities in the state to agri-business communities across the world” .
The event is expected to bring together all stakeholders — farmers, academicians, technologists, agribusiness companies and policy makers — to accelerate development of sustainable agricultural and allied activities through innovative methods and best
practices.
She said the exposure would help farmer with skill development & training, setting up farmer information centers and e mandis for marketing their products. “Agri sector contributes to 31 per cent in State’s growth and we are aiming it to increase by 50 per cent” she added.