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New Delhi : Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh while addressing the conference of Vice Chancellors of State Agriculture Universities and Directors of ICAR institutes at Pusa, New Delhi, on January 31, 2019, said that in the “Sabka Sath – Sabka Vikas” mantra of the Prime Minister, farmers’ welfare is an integral part of New India. Under this, a number of strategic initiatives have been taken to accelerate the progress of agriculture and to transform the farm sector. In this direction, various initiatives have been taken by the Agriculture Universities and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
Radha Mohan said that in the last four and half years, the ICAR has supplemented the Government’s “Soil Health Card” initiative and has developed a mini Lab “Mridaparikshak” for soil testing. For problems related to climate change, 45 Integrated Farming System (IFS) models have been created by including all the 15 agro-climatic regions to benefit small and marginal farmers.
He said that with the efforts of Modi government, for the first time, IARI-Pusa, and IARI-Assam is being established and IARI-Jharkhand has been established. An Administrative block in IARI-Jharkhand was recently inaugurated. At the same time, 6 new colleges have been opened under Central Agricultural University (CAU), Imphal, and Indian Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology (IIAB) has been established at Ranchi, Jharkhand.
Radha Mohan informed that various policy initiatives taken by the government in the last four and a half years have resulted in record production of foodgrains and horticulture crops in the country in the current year. The foodgrains production rose by 7.5% to 284.83 million tonnes in 2017-18 from 265.04 million tonnes in 2013-14. In 2017-18, pulse production stood at 25.23 million tonnes, which is close to the self-dependency mark. As a result, its import fell to 5.65 lakh tonnes in 2017-18 from 10 lakh tonnes in 2016-17, thereby saving Rs 9,775 crore in foreign exchange. The first advance estimates of 2018-19 pegs horticulture production at 314.67 million tonne against 311.7 million tonne in 2017-18.
The Minister said with an aim to making rapid progress in agricultural science, the ICAR has taken initiatives in the use of space technology. For the advancement of agriculture, Agriculture universities and ICAR have readily adopted e-mode of payments. Farmers have access to Kisan Portal, Mobile-based farmer advisory-KMA SMS portal, toll free helpline, data centre and mobile app for various breeds. Pusa Agriculture – technology mobile app, PulseExpert mobile app for pulse crops has been released.
A new programme ‘Mera Gaon – Mera Gaurav’ was initiated by the Prime Minister to establish the reach of science to the farmers. Under this programme, 5 villages are adopted by a group of 4 scientists and farmers are provided with agricultural advice and information. In order to increase employment opportunities in agriculture, ICAR has been supporting more than 150 Agri Start-Ups and these start-ups are progressing successfully, Radha Mohan said, according to a PIB release.