Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the government is promoting organic farming to protect farmers from the challenges of climate change through the fusion of "back to basics" and "march towards the future" with digital agriculture, for which it has made provisions in this year's Union Budget.
Prime Minister kickstarted the 50th-anniversary celebrations of the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Patancheru, Hyderabad on Saturday.
Addressing the event, Prime Minister said, "To save our farmers from climate challenge, our focus is on the fusion of both 'Back to basics' and 'March to future'. Our focus is on more than 80 per cent of small farmers of the country who need us the most. One important aspect of the changing India is digital agriculture. The Union Budget 2022-23 is focused on natural farming and digital agriculture."
Referring to 15 Agro-Climatic Zones and six different seasons in India, he said the country has a very diverse and ancient experience related to agricultural practices.
Prime Minister emphasized that the Centre is working towards bringing a large area under irrigation by connecting rivers through water conservation. He said the government is also promoting micro-irrigation to increase water use efficiency in less irrigated areas.
"We are focusing on food security as well as nutrition security. With this vision, we have developed many bio-fortified varieties in the last seven years. In the next few years, we want to take area usage in the palm oil sector to 6.5 lakh hectares," he said.
Prime Minister said the government is focused on building FPOs (Farmer Producer Organizations) and the agriculture value chain.
"By organizing the small farmers of the country into thousands of FPOs, we want to make them aware of big market force," added Prime Minister Modi.
Highlighting India's commitment to nature conservation, Prime Minister said Pro Planet People is a movement that connects every community, every individual with climate responsibility to tackle the climate challenge.
"This is not limited to just words but is also reflected in the actions of the Government of India. India has urged the world to pay special attention to it to deal with the climate challenge. Not only has India set a target of Net-Zero by 2070, but we have also highlighted the need for LIFE - Lifestyle for Environment," Prime Minister emphasized.
Prime Miniter inaugurated ICRISAT's Climate Change Research Facility on Plant Protection and Rapid Generation Advancement Facility. He also launched a commemorative stamp issued on the occasion.
Hailing ICRISAT's efforts in strengthening India's agriculture sector, Prime Minister said the institute has experience of five decades of helping other nations in making agriculture easy and sustainable.
( With inputs from ANI )
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