The 8th meeting of Agriculture Ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries was held on Friday in which several countries including Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China and Pakistan participated. Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar presided over the meeting.
Under the chairmanship of India, SCO member countries adopted the Smart Agriculture project. Expressing satisfaction over the smart agriculture action plan and the initiative of innovation in agriculture, Tomar said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s emphasis is on the overall development of agriculture in the country through technology. In this direction, India has taken several concrete steps to promote smart agriculture.
Tomar said that India gives importance to its relations with SCO in promoting multilateral, political, security, economic and people-to-people interactions. It is a matter of pleasure and pride for us to organize a meeting of SCO Agriculture Ministers to discuss strengthening cooperation in food security and nutrition, especially in the current situation.
In order to maintain the normal functioning of the food supply chain in the present conditions, there is a need for close contact and cooperation between various countries for food and nutrition security, said Tomar adding India is the largest employer globally in the agriculture sector.
Tomar said that India’s public distribution system and price support system for farmers are unique in the world. It is the good result of foresight of our policy-makers, efficiency of agricultural scientists and tireless hard work of farmers that today India is self-sufficient in food grains.
India is a leading producer of many commodities like cereals, fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, fish. He said that the welfare of the farmers and overall development of the agriculture sector has been the top priority of the Government of India.
Efforts are being made by the Government of India to make the country self-reliant in the agriculture sector with concerted efforts in innovation, digital agriculture, climate smart technologies, development of high yielding, biofortified varieties, and agricultural research. Efforts are being made to improve the life and livelihood of the farmers by making their agriculture sustainable and friendly.
A plan has been started to promote and form 10,000 new Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) to increase the economic potential of small and marginal farmers by adding them to farmer groups, said Tomar.
India has also launched programs to create new irrigation infrastructure, conserve soil fertility including balanced use of fertilizers, provide farm-to-market connectivity, ICT linkages, etc., with the goal of increasing farmers’ income. The vision of empowering farmers, farm women, rural youth is being taken forward by taking large scale lab-to-land initiatives by developing new technologies and methodologies.
At the beginning of the meeting, Shri Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare gave a welcome address. Representatives of the SCO Secretariat as well as the Central Agriculture and high officials of the Ministry of Farmers Welfare and senior officials of SCO member countries participated.