Chandigarh
27 April 2017
DIVYA AZAD
“Aspire to have income of 100000 per acre by farm production management, diversification and direct marketing,” said Shri Om Prakash Dhankar, Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of Haryana. He was addressing the 10th Progressiv
He called upon the farming community of the state to adopt direct marketing of their products to increase their income. He also suggested the importance of marketing and branding of the produce and asked the farmers to go for pre-booking of their saleable produce. He called for establishing agribusiness schools in the states of Punjab and Haryana which will impart training on various ways to market agro products.
“Farmers need to focus on establishing direct connect with the world market to sell their produce rather than depending on middlemen or other agencies. Farmers can come together to brand and sell their produce at their own or village level. So far, the focus has been more on coming up with technology for farm input, which is a huge market now. Farmers must not shy away from adopting new marketing tools and techniques like the Internet for agro marketing and agro economy.”
“Farmers can establish their own mandis for direct marketing of their products at their convenience. Farmers must not hesitate to learning crop management techniques. It is of utmost importance to focus on crop marketing management apart from crop protection management. With the international airport in Amritsar, the farmers should capitalise on this opportunity and start exporting their produce in the international markets, especially Middle East. Shri Dhankar focused Along with application of technology in inputs, it is also required to apply technology on output, he opined,” he added.Former Vice-Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University, Prof Manjit Singh Kang said, “Precision farming is the only solution to make agriculture sustainable. Precision farming can be defined as customised farming to use the right input at the right time so as to lower the cost and increase farm income. Focus on precision agriculture is necessary for making agriculture sustainable. He suggested application of other forms of technology like nano-fertilisers and nano-pesticides for development of agriculture, and described the various applications of technology in agriculture. Innovation is the key to beat challenges in the agricultural sector, he said.
Former chairman Punjab Farmers Commission Mr GS Kalkat called for government support for farmers to adopt modern technology and frame policy to promote modernisation of agriculture to increase farmers’ income.
Chairman, CII Punjab State Council, Gurmeet Singh Bhatia, said, “Agricultural growth rate of 10.5% is needed to fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to double farmers’ income by 2022. Key areas that need attention are crop productivity, livestock value addition, water management, better price realisation etc.”
