Atmanirbhar agriculture key to becoming self-reliant India: MoS Kailash Choudhary

Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Kailash Choudhary on Friday said there is a need to intensify research and development activities in agriculture for the betterment of farmers at the grassroots level.

According to him, India needs to be Atmanirbhar in 'krishi' for it to become Atmanirbhar or self-reliant.

Minister Choudhary made the remarks at an event organized by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

"In order to increase the farmers' income, we need to decrease their loan burden, provide developed seeds, create market linkage and storage facilities. States need to work proactively at the field level, the Centre is always there to provide assistance," he said while virtually attending the event.

Further, stressing the importance of natural farming, the minister said that there is a need to shift from chemicals and fertilisers based farming.

"Technology needs to be extended to our farmers. Only research can't do it alone, the end product of the research needs to reach the farmer," he added.

States like Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are becoming highly affected by the adverse climatic conditions, a Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare statement said, adding that new climate-smart technologies for the farmers should be developed.

The minister claimed that until agricultural activities are taken as commercial ventures, one can't reap full potential benefits and get remunerative returns.

Notably, the share of India in the world export of food products is only about 3 per cent, owing to a low level of processing and lower value addition.

"Also low level of processing is reflected in the composition of India's food export basket which essentially consists of primary products like rice, flour, sugar, meat, fish, etc," the statement said.

( With inputs from ANI )

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