Technological interventions for processing, product development, sustainability, and export orientation that could improve farmers’ income were discussed at the Centre-State Science Conclave in Ahmedabad today.
“India is identified in the global arena for its strength in agriculture, and to continue with this position, we need to focus on S&T interventions in food and water,” said Dr. N Kalaiselvi, Director General, CSIR.
Dr. Himashu Pathak, Director General, ICAR,stressed on theadoption of a holistic approach to ensure production, protection, and sustainability for the agricultural system.
Dr. AK Singh, Deputy Director General, Horticultural & Crops Sciences, ICAR, spoke about the adaptation of technologies like ICAR-FUSICONT technology for medium and high-density plantations to bridge the yield gap, increase productivity, and collaboration to expand the online market places.
“With primary challenges focused on food grain production, the productivity of crops could be increased by using new techniques like genome editing,” Dr. KB Kathiriya, Vice Chancellor, Gujarat Agricultural University, Anand, pointed out.
D Srinivasa Reddy, Director, CSIR – IIIM, elaborated about the development of aroma-based entrepreneurs along with end-to-end technology. “While the purple revolution under CSIR-Aroma mission has empowered the farmers of several states, now floriculture mission has been initiated for crop diversification,” he added.
Shri Saurabh Bhagat, Secretary, Science & Technology, UT of Jammu & Kashmir, insisted on opportunities in horticulture and the establishment of demonstration farms.
“Sustainable agriculture technologies are being used to improve farmers’ economic conditions. Some of these are nano-fertilizers to increase soil fertility and IoT-based technologies to minimize the labour shortages,” said Dr. R Srinivasan, Member Secretary, S&T Council, Government of Tamil Nadu.
Shri N V Ramana, Samunnati Agri Enterprise, Hyderabad, pointed out that markets will have to be created for small farming sectors, technologies will have to be harnessed to enable non-linear scalability, and a digitally wrapped agri-ecosystem will have to be created.
The expert panelists at the agriculture session of the conclave organized by the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, jointly with the Government of Gujarat at Science City, Ahmedabad, deliberated on challenges and their plausible solutions for improving agricultural income.