New Delhi || 29-11-2024
Addressing the 4th edition of ‘FICCI Sustainable Agriculture Summit & Awards’, Franklin L Khobung, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt of India today said that if India has to attain food and nutritional security then we have to focus on sustainable agriculture.
Highlighting the importance of agriculture in India’s economic development, he said that 18% of the GDP comes from the agriculture sector along with 54% of workforce engaged in agriculture and allied sector. “Agriculture is about the progress of the country. We need to focus on the issues faced in agriculture sector and sustainability holds the key for India to attain the food security.
Speaking on the India’s food security, Khobung added that there are still many challenges even if we have achieved the food security level. The government, has taken many steps to ensure sustainability in the sector including the setting up of National Action Plan on Climate Change along with the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture.
The program focuses on investment, transfer of technology and importance of capacity building of farming communities. “We promote micro irrigation by using same quantity of water, we aim to cover more area under irrigation. Till date we have covered 17 million hectares of the net cultivated area which is around 140 million hectares in the country,” he added.
Khobung further said that the National Mission on Natural Farming recently got approved by the Cabinet and natural farming will be promoted across the country. “We have to boost investment in the agriculture sector including the value chain development, storage facilities, logistics, processing units, etc. We need investments to have more infrastructure so that food waste is minimized,” he noted.
Anuja Kadian, India Chair, BRICS WBA Working Group on Food Security and Environment Safety; Chair, FICCI Taskforce, said that BRICS countries can play a significant role in implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Leveraging impactful partnerships among BRICS nations to propel sustainable agriculture practices is critical. She also highlighted important role of women in developing smart and sustainable agri food value chain in BRICS nations.
Gugulethu G. Xaba, Head of Food Security in BRICS WBA, Mansi Chaturvedi, Head- Private Partnerships, UN World Food, Dr Hema Yadav, Director, Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Cooperative Management, Dr Arpita Mukherjee, Professor, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations also shared their perspective during the session on Impactful Partnerships for Sustainable Agriculture Development and Climate Resilient Agriculture.
In the 2nd plenary session other experts from the food and agricuture industry discussed on a topic ‘Develop a conducive ecosystem for sustainable agriculture development’.
