SME Times News Bureau | 04 Jul, 2018
Vice
President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Tusday said that India needs to adopt
a multi-pronged strategy to make agriculture viable and profitable.
ddressing
Scientists, Farm Experts and Farmers at the Central Research
Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), in Hyderabad, the Vice
President added that the farm income must be supplemented by non-farm
occupations and value addition through food processing.
Observing
that agriculture is the backbone of our economy, he said unless this
sector performs well consistently, the trajectory of the country’s
progress will not be smooth.
He
further said that change is required in Agriculture as there is a
change in climate, change in market conditions, change in world order
and change in food habits.
Allied
services like fisheries, poultry, horticulture, food processing and
packaging need to promoted to improve farmers’ income,he added.
The
Vice President said that the need of the hour is to make agriculture
profitable and sustainable with consistent increase in its growth
rate. All the stakeholders involved in agriculture must come to the
rescue of the Annadata or else we will be failing in our moral duty,
he added.
The
Vice President said that vagaries of weather - from high intensity
rainfall events to prolonged dry spells have drastically impacted
agriculture.
He
further said that hailstorms, heat waves and perennial droughts are
some of the causes for agrarian distress. The uncertainties are
driving farmers’ into debt traps and also leading to their
suicides, he added.
The
Vice President stressed on the need to address the agrarian crisis in
a systematic way so that the farmers become prosperous.
He
further said that creating awareness among the farmers on traditional
and modern methods of water conservation will help in effective water
budgeting for agricultural activities. Protection of cattle health is
important to increase farmers' income, he added.
Highlighting
the need to have homegrown food security, he said that no country
which was dependent on others for its food security has been
successful.