28-Mar-2022: NITI Aayog and FAO Launch Book Titled Indian Agriculture towards 2030

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoA&FW) Shri Narendra Singh Tomar today released a book titled Indian Agriculture towards 2030: Pathways for Enhancing Farmers’ Income, Nutritional Security and Sustainable Food and Farm Systems, at an event organized by NITI Aayog and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

Published by Springer, Indian Agriculture towards 2030 captures the outcomes of the deliberative process of a national dialogue by NITI Aayog and the Ministries of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare; and Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, and facilitated by FAO since 2019.

Congratulating NITI Aayog, FAO and MoA&FW officials, Union Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar said, “With the efforts of all the stakeholders, including experts, the hard-working farmers, and agricultural scientists, we will be able to handle the challenges identified and take Indian agriculture and the country to new heights.”   

The event was attended by several dignitaries, including NITI Aayog Member Professor Ramesh Chand and CEO Amitabh Kant.

NITI Aayog Member Professor Ramesh Chand, who is one of the editors of the book, said, “Considering the unprecedented challenges that agriculture is facing globally and in India, and the opportunities that exist, there is a need for a transformative vision for the next decade. Realizing this need, a national dialogue was initiated to think through this transformation—what are its key elements and what it means for policy and practice. The areas that need special attention were identified through a collaborative process between NITI Aayog, MoA&FW, and FAO under the overall guidance of a steering committee comprising agricultural experts.”

Indian Agriculture towards 2030 covers the following themes:

• Transforming Indian Agriculture
• Structural Reforms and Governance
• Dietary Diversity, Nutrition and Food Safety
• Managing Climate Risks in Agriculture
• Science, Technology and Innovation
• Symbiosis of Water and Agricultural Transformation in India
• Pests, Pandemics, Preparedness and Biosecurity
• Transformative Agroecology-Based Alternatives for a Sustainable and Biodiverse Future

The book includes a Foreword by the Hon’ble Vice President of India Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu. It also has an Introduction by former FAO Representative in India Tomio Shichiri, under whose guidance this initiative was undertaken.

The national dialogue was organized from 19 to 22 January 2021. It sought to complement the government’s efforts in designing a post-Green Revolution future for the country, wherein agri-food systems can further nutritional targets, enhance livelihoods and safeguard human and ecological health.

The book launch was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Ashish Bahuguna, former Secretary, MoA&FW. Panelists Dr Ashok Dalwai, Chief Executive Officer, National Rainfed Area Authority; Prof. Bharat Ramaswami, Ashoka University; and Ajay Vir Jakhar, Chairperson, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, discussed the relevance of the book and the national dialogue process, which highlights the need for re-mandating agriculture and envisions the transformative vision for the ongoing decade.

15-Jun-2021: Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar addresses the 42nd session of FAO Conference

Greetings to all the Excellencies in the 42nd Session of FAO Conference. I hope and wish that you, your families and the citizens of your countries are safe and doing well in these difficult times of COVID-19 pandemic.

I am happy to participate in the 42nd Session of the FAO Conference being held virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic. India is a founder member of the FAO and has played significant role since inception as Chair and member of various statutory bodies and committees.

I would like to congratulate the Food and Agriculture Organization for completing 75 glorious years of service to humanity on 16th Oct 2020. To commemorate the long standing relationship between India and the FAO, the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi ji had released a special seventy five rupees commemorative coin which aptly combines the themes of agricultural production and nutrition in its motto - “सही पोषण देश रोशन’’ meaning “a country will shine if the nutrition is correct”.

The Country Program Framework prepared by FAO India in collaboration with Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India is aligned with our national priorities and has a much required multi sectoral approach.

FAO has benefitted from India’s vast repository of knowledge which is shared globally among the member countries. India has been working closely with FAO, extending technical expertise and assistance in incidences of trans-boundary pests mainly Fall Army Worm and Desert Locust. I acknowledge the support of  FAO in endorsing the Indian proposal for an International Year of Pulses which was celebrated in 2016 and for declaring 2023 as the International Year of Millets.

Agriculture has been one of the major success stories post-independence in India. The Green Revolution, White Revolution, blue revolution along with the Public Distribution System and price support system for farmers are unparallel in the World.

It is the result of the vision of policy makers, ingenuity of our agricultural scientists and the labor of our farmers that India is self-sufficient in food grains. India is a leading producer or second highest producer of several agricultural commodities.

Agriculture has always been a high priority for India and Government of India is always  committed to the welfare of farmers.

The COVID 19 pandemic has further put the spotlight on the sector. India with her tremendous growth trajectory in the field of agriculture will continue to share best practices and build capacities of other developing countries.

I note with satisfaction that the Agriculture sector in India performed well during the severe Covid-19 pandemic and registered an all-time high production of 305 million tons of food grains as well as their exports contributing to the Global Food Security.

Faced with the debilitating Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, the Government of India under the leadership of  Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji took swift actions on different fronts to ensure that the farming calendar is not affected by the restrictions imposed during the lock downs.

These initiatives of Government of India ensured timely sowing of the crops, availability of agricultural inputs and proper harvesting and procurement of the crops.

Significant Policy and legislative decisions were taken during this period to liberalize Agri marketing to transform Indian agriculture for the benefit of farmers and consumers.

Special parcel trains with refrigeration facilities “the KISAN RAIL” were introduced by Indian Railways to transport the essential commodities including perishable horticulture produce, milk and dairy produce from the production centres to the large urban markets across our vast country creating a win-win situation for the producers and consumers.

To improve the situation of our workers and to provide them relief during Covid Pandemic the Government of India launched the “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package”. Under this scheme, free food grains were provided to 810 million beneficiaries and now, in May, the scheme has been further extended in which workers will be benefited till November.

More than Rupees 137000 Crore have been sent to the bank accounts of over 100 million farmers under the “PM Kisan” Scheme to provide income support to the farmers.

Excellencies, India is conscious of its commitments under the climate change pacts and is taking effective steps in various sectors to combat the climate change and to ameliorate the adverse impacts of climate change. India has launched various projects under the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture to develop, demonstrate and disseminate the techniques to make agriculture resilient to adverse impacts of climate change. India is promoting Organic farming at a large scale.

I am sure that unflinching efforts of FAO with all the member countries to improve agriculture productivity, end hunger and malnutrition would go a long way to make the world a safer and healthier place to live in.

16-Oct-2020: PM releases commemorative coin of Rs 75 denomination to mark the 75th Anniversary of FAO

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi released commemorative coins of Rs 75 denomination to mark the 75th Anniversary of FAO today through video conferencing. He dedicated to the nation, 17 recently developed biofortified varieties of crops.

Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister greeted the people across the world who are constantly working to remove malnutrition. He said, our Kisan Saathi - our Annadata, our Agricultural Scientist, our Anganwadi ASHA workers, are the basis of the movement against malnutrition. While they have filled the granary of India with their hard work, they are also helping the government in reaching the poorest of the poor. He added, due to all these efforts, India is fighting a strong fight against malnutrition even in this crisis of Corona.

The Prime Minister said over the years, FAO helped to increase agricultural production and eradicate hunger all over the world, including India and has played a huge role in increasing nutrition and its service is respected by more than 130 crore Indians. He said this year's Nobel Peace Prize to the World Food Program is also a major achievement for the FAO. He remarked that India is happy with the partnership and engagement which has been historic.

The Prime Minister said the world food program was started by FAO under the leadership of Dr Binay Ranjan Sen when he was the Director General in FAO. He had felt the pain of famine and starvation very closely and the scale of his work is still useful for the whole world. He said the FAO has also closely watched India's fight against malnutrition in the past decades but its scope had many constraints. He said for reasons such as getting pregnant at a young age, lack of education, lack of information, inadequate access to drinking water, lack of cleanliness, etc. we could not get the expected results.

The Prime Minister remarked that with years of experience fresh efforts were made in the country after 2014. He said with an integrated approach Government took a holistic approach and ended all the silos to work on a multi-dimensional strategy. He listed the initiatives by the Government to fight malnutrition such as National Nutrition Mission (POSHAN Abhiyaan), construction of toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission, Mission Rainbow, Jal Jeevan mission, distribution of low cost Sanitation pads, etc. He highlighted the outcome of such efforts like Gross Enrollment Ratio of girls exceeding the Ratio for boys, etc. He said important work is done to tackle malnutrition like promoting coarse grains and crops rich in nutrition like protein, iron, zinc, etc.

The Prime Minister expressed thanks to FAO for fully supporting India's proposal to declare 2023 as the International Year of Millets. He said this will encourage intake of nutritious food, increase their availability further and benefit small farmers a lot. He said the small and medium farmers mostly grow coarse grains on their land where there is a problem of water and the land is not so fertile. He added this will benefit not only to India but the whole world.

The Prime Minister remarked the common variety of some crops lacks some micronutrients and thus bio-fortified varieties were developed to overcome these shortcomings. He added today 17 bio-fortified seed varieties of several local and traditional crops including wheat and paddy are being made available to the farmers which is an important step to strengthen the nutrition campaign.

The Prime Minister said experts around the world were concerned about starvation & malnutrition in India owing to the Corona pandemic. He said amid these concerns, during the past 7-8 months, India has distributed food grains worth about Rs 1.5 crore to the 80 crore poor free of cost, to fight starvation & malnutrition. He added special care was taken to include rice or wheat along with lentils in the ration, as India’s commitment towards food security.

The Prime Minister said until 2014 the Food Security Act was in force only in 11 states and only after that it was implemented effectively in the entire country. He said while the whole world is struggling due to Corona, Indian farmers made a record production of food grains and the government also made new records in procurement of food grains like wheat, paddy and pulses. He said reforms are being done continuously in India which shows its commitment towards Global Food security. He listed various agricultural reforms being done to increase the income of farmers. He said the goal of the amendments made to the APMC Act is to make it more competitive. He added several steps have been taken to ensure that farmers get one and a half times the cost as MSP. MSP and government procurement are an important part of ensuring the country's food security. So it is natural for them to continue

The Prime Minister said to give strength to small farmers, a large network of Farmer Producer Organizations i.e. FPOs are being developed in the country. Grain wastage has always been a major problem in India and amendments in the Essential Commodities Act will change this condition. Now the government as well as private players would get more opportunity to build better infrastructure in villages.

The Prime Minister while elaborating about the amendment to APMC Act, said when the farmer makes an agreement with any private company or industry, the price of the produce will be decided even before sowing. It will also provide relief from the price fluctuations and will encourage new technology in farming. He added apart from giving more options to the farmer, legal protection has been given to the farmer. If the farmer wants to break the agreement for any reason, then he will not have to pay any penalty. But if the institution that compromises the farmer breaks the agreement, he will have to pay a fine. He said the agreement will be only on the yield and there will not be any kind of crisis on the land of the farmer. That is, every type of protection to the farmer has been ensured through these reforms.

The Prime Minister concluded when the Indian farmers become strong their income will increase, so the campaign against malnutrition will get equal strength. He wished that increasing synergy between India and FAO will give further momentum to the campaign.

7-Dec-2018: Food and Agriculture organisation (FAO) Council approves India’s proposal to observe an International Year of Millets in 2023

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Radha Mohan Singh has said that the 160th session of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Council, currently underway in Rome, approved India’s proposal to observe an International Year of Millets in 2023. On behalf of all countrymen the minister conveyed his gratitude to the countries who voiced their support. He added that this will enhance global awareness to bring back these nutri-cereals to the plate, for food and nutrition security and hence increase production for resilience to challenges posed globally by climate change.

India’s prowess in agriculture diplomacy has grown. This international endorsement comes in the backdrop of India celebrating 2018 as the National Year of Millets for promoting cultivation and consumption of these nutri-cereals. This is further supported by increase in Minimum Support Prices (MSP) of millets. Millets consists of Jowar, Bajra, Ragi and minor millets together termed as nutri-cereals. The MSP of Jowar has been increased to Rs 2450 per quintal from Rs 1725, Bajra to Rs 1950 from Rs 1425 and Ragi to Rs 2897 from Rs 1900 per quintal from 2018-19. Through the Department of Food and Public Distribution, State Governments are allowed to procure jowar, bajra, maize and ragi from farmers at MSP.

In addition, the FAO Council also approved India’s membership to the Executive Board of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) for 2020 and 2021 for which the Minister expressed his deepest gratitude to other member countries for their support.

20-Sep-2018: Indian government along with FAO has launched an agriculture project with $33.5 million grant from Global Environment Facility (GEF)

The government along with United Nations body FAO has launched an agriculture project with $33.5 million grant from Global Environment Facility (GEF) that seeks to bring transformative change in the farm sector through conservation of biodiversity and forest landscapes.

The $33.5 million project is being funded by the GEF and implemented by the government of India (agriculture and environment ministries) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The project aims to transform agricultural production to generate global environmental benefits by addressing biodiversity conservation, land degradation, climate change mitigation and sustainable forest management.

Ashok Dalwai, CEO, National Rainfed Area Authority, Ministry of Agriculture has stressed the need for an alternative paradigm to current extractive methods of agricultural production systems. He called for scientific research to focus on achieving greener landscapes along with efficient and effective resource use. He stressed that integrated farming requires the development of backward and forward linkages to harness the benefits of economies of scale.

The project, to be implemented in five landscapes in Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, strives to bring harmony between conservation and development efforts of the country.

Tomio Shichiri, FAO representative, said that agriculture with its allied sectors, is the largest source of livelihoods in India, with 82 percent of the country’s farmers being small and marginal.

Any effort to increase farmers income and food production should happen within the framework of sustainable management of natural resources to avoid further depletion of water tables, biodiversity and habitat for wild species, and land and soil degradation which have contributed to the environmental crisis facing India today.