The Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has organized the National Agriculture Conference – Rabi Campaign 2024
National target of foodgrain production to be 341.55 million tonnes in 2024-25: Chouhan
The Government of India will work together on every suggestion of the Minister and the State Representatives – Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan.The Union Minister for Agriculture, Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan inaugurated the National Conference on Agriculture for Rabi Campaign 2024 at NASC Complex, New Delhi with an aim to review and assess crop performance in previous crop seasons and set crop based targets for rabi season. The objective of the conference was to promote dialogue among all stakeholders about innovative farming practices and digital initiatives to ensure smooth supply of essential agricultural produce and support adoption of latest technologies and to increase crop production.
Addressing the conference, Shivraj Singh Chouhan said,
Addressing the conference, Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, “We have to move towards organic and natural farming to increase productivity and reduce dependence on chemicals and fertilisers. The aim is to increase the yield per hectare, reduce the cost of production and provide the actual price to the farmers. A committee has been formed to reduce the transportation cost to reduce the gap between the purchase price and the selling price. To make India the largest food basket in the world, states need to work on increasing production based on agro-climatic conditions in collaboration with the Centre. The national target of foodgrain production in 2024-25 will be 341.55 million tonnes. He assured that the Government of India will work together on every suggestion of the ministers and state representatives.
The Minister of State for Agriculture Shri Ram Nath Thakur urged the States to take immediate steps to help the farmers affected by crops due to floods and cyclones.
Speaking at the conference, The Minister of State for Agriculture Shri Ram Nath Thakur urged the States to take immediate steps to help the farmers affected by crops due to floods and cyclones. Senior officials and researchers need to assess the quality of farm produce being circulated in the market.
Minister of State for Agriculture Shri Bhagirath Chaudhary expressed gratitude to the research institutions for their continuous work towards making the country self-reliant in the production of pulses and oilseeds.
Digital platforms such as increasing the productivity of oilseeds and pulses, clean plants programme, National Pest Surveillance System (NPSS) and Integrated Pesticide Management System (IPMS), DPI and Seed Certification under Digital Agriculture Mission, Traceability and Holistic Inventory (Sathi) portal were also presented at the conference.
To meet the growing demand for edible oil in the country and become self-reliant, the government aims to increase oilseeds production from 39.2 MMT in 2022-23 to 69.7 MMT in 2030-31, increase the area under cultivation from the current 29 floors to 33 MW and increase production per hectare by 2030-31. The panelists stressed on conducting research on short-term, high-yielding seed varieties for the cultivation of pulses and oilseeds and implementing massive mechanization.
The conference showcased the ministry's recent agri-tech initiatives to ensure quality of agricultural commodities and ensure proactive pest management strategy.
The conference showcased the ministry’s recent agri-tech initiatives to ensure quality of agricultural commodities and ensure proactive pest management strategy. The NPSS provides a nationwide perspective for the prediction, planning, and management of pest and disease transmission and plays an important role in protecting agricultural harvests and promoting sustainable farming practices. In addition, the role of IPMS in addressing complaints/issues related to shortage of supplies and misbranding of pesticides, real-time monitoring of issuance of licences, faceless and traceless quality assurance systems using special QR codes were highlighted. Similarly, Sathi Portal is a complete and integrated solution to cover all activities involved in production, verification, processing, packing, tagging and disposal of all types of seeds ranging from breeder, foundation, certified, TL seeds.
In the session on Digital Agriculture, the panelists discussed the recently approved Digital Agriculture Mission to support various Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) initiatives for agriculture and special centre assistance to states for investment. The campaign focuses on enabling an integrated DPI ecosystem that enables farmer-centric solutions using integrated registration through Agristock and provides various suggestions through the Agricultural Decision Support System.
The panelists also discussed the need for regulations to ensure import of disease-free plantation materials in case of fruits and orchids. The clean plant programme will work to address such issues and produce, maintain and distribute germ-tested proliferative materials using the medical process to clean up the plant.
Responding to various sessions at the conference, state representatives need to take the following (a) agriculture, holistic approach, (b) mechanization.
Fertiliser secretary Rajat Kumar Mishra stressed on the use of drones for monitoring nano urea and crops. Secretary (DARE) and DG (ICAR) Dr Himanshu Pathak urged the states to increase the use of bio-fortified seeds, use of new varieties of seeds and increase the use of climate resilient seeds and change seeds to increase productivity.
He then held discussions with the Hon’ble Ministers and senior officials of the State and raised issues related to their State for increasing area, yield, production and productivity in their States. The state’s agriculture ministers raised their issues with regard to farmers and urged the Government of India to work towards a solution. They also gave some suggestions for the betterment of agriculture and farmers.
Representatives from various Ministries, State Governments/UTs and other organisations participated in the conference. Through interactive sessions, the conference facilitated a wide range of discussions that would lead. read more
