National Conference on Agriculture- Rabi Campaign 2019 held in New Delhi

National Conference on Agriculture for Rabi Campaign 2019 was organized on 20 September 2019 at NASC, Pusa in New Delhi. The conference was inaugurated by Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. The Conference was also attended by senior officers from Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW), DARE, Indian Council of Agriculture Reasearch (ICAR) & State Governments and Union Territories (UTs).

Key Deliberations of National Conference

Record production was achieved for food grains of about 285 million tonnes (MT) due to state governments for effective implementation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes.

The Centre-state cooperation has made possible an all time high production of rice 116 million tonnes (MT), wheat 102.5 million tonnes (MT), pulses and oilseeds.

Challenges:

The primary concern at present is of shortage of oilseeds. Therefore, to increase capacity and reduce import of edible oils, suggestions were made on launching of a separate mission.

Participants emphasized that the demand for fertilizers should be made after consultation with farmer organizations at District level. Also, Agriculture Departments of States should provide their fertilizer demands to Centre in time so that availability can be ensured to farmers at crucial stages of crops.

The emphasis was made on to take advantage of favorable weather conditions so that better production can be achieved in Rabi season. Moreover, State Agriculture Departments of Gujarat and Punjab were advised to remain vigilant for locust (a tropical grasshopper,) attack as it has been reported in Rajasthan.

Solutions:

The department of AC&FW has decided to distribute seed mini-kits for Rabi crops, pulses and oilseed with active involvement of State Agriculture Departments.

For Kisan Credit Card scheme major changes in terms of waiver of registration fee, minimum time for issuance of KCC, widening range of loans etc have been made for covering large number of farmers.

Also, inputs were received from State Agriculture Departments for modification in Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and scheme would be reviewed accordingly.

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2019