Need To Transform Agriculture To Advanced Farming: Tomar

The Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has said that there is a need to transform agriculture to advanced farming and maintain continuity as agriculture has such strength that India can easily overcome even adverse situations. 

While speaking at an Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) event, he said that the agriculture sector is the backbone of our country and our rural economy.

Tomar said that the Indian agriculture sector has shown this during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

"Today we are in the first or second place in the world in terms of most of the agricultural produce. Despite this, there are some challenges for the agriculture sector," he said.

Tomar said that the stronger and more profitable the sector is, the stronger the country will be. There is a need to consider the challenges facing agriculture today. 

"In spite of all the favourable conditions, the area under farming and its profit and loss depends a lot on nature. People's curiosity and attachment towards agriculture should increase, agriculture should be attractive for the next generation and farmers can be retained for farming, more work needs to be done in this direction," he added.

Tomar said that the government is working to reduce the gap between farmers and the market, providing infrastructure in rural areas and eliminating the role of middlemen. 

He said that the number of small farmers in the country is more, who have small acreage and do not have money for investment; for such farmers, the central government is setting up 10,000 new FPOs, for which a provision of Rs 6,865 crore has been made and small farmers are being mobilised. 

Tomar said that to reduce import dependence in oilseeds, the oil palm mission has been started with a provision of Rs.11,000 crore. 28 lakh hectares of land in the country is suitable for oil palm cultivation.