Agriculture policy

Dhankhar urged farmers to see themselves as entrepreneurs with the potential to drive rural economies. He underscored the importance of participating in the input chain of agriculture (fertilizers, pesticides, machinery) and the output chain including storage, processing, and retail.

The ministry of agriculture and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) will jointly implement the campaign with a broad coalition of stakeholders, including agricultural universities, state government departments, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), and leading progressive farmers.

As smart farming technologies continue to mature, frameworks like this will be key to ensuring that agriculture not only meets the demands of a growing global population but does so in a way that is sustainable, efficient, and secure.

Farhad Vania, Portfolio Management Advisor, GIZ India emphasized GIZ’s commitment to agroforestry, agriculture, and goat-related projects in India through Indo-German partnerships.

India faces a significant challenge in foodgrain storage, with a substantial gap between production and storage capacity, leading to potential losses and impacting food security.

The minister said that the Farmers Distress Inde is designed to develop a forewarning system to take preventive measures to identify farmer distress, providing alerts three months in advance.

Choudhary said that to assist states in regulating groundwater resources, the ministry of Jal Shakti drafted a Model ‘Groundwater (Regulation and Control of Development and Management) Bill.’ This bill provides a regulatory framework to curb indiscriminate groundwater extraction while promoting rainwater harvesting and artificial recharge.

A gene bank serves as a biorepository for preserving genetic material, such as seeds, pollen, and tissue samples, collected from various plant species. The primary objective is to protect these valuable resources from extinction and support research, conservation, and breeding efforts.