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Cover Feature Agriculture leAdership summit
4
th
With the increasing population and deteriorating environment, one of the
biggest concerns of the present time is the food security. There is no othermeans but agriculture growth which can lead us to food security. Policies,schemes and programmes are the need of the hour to meet the demands
of agriculture sector. Farmers are the section of the society who needsspecial focus today. Taking this major concern into consideration, the 4thAgriculture Leadership Summit was organized by Agriculture Today to
discuss the issue of Policy Reforms for Farm Growth.
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AGRICULTURE TODAYOctober 2011 21
The 4th Agriculture
Leadership Sum-
mit was organized
by Agriculture Today on
14th September, 2011 atTaj Palce, New Delhi. The
summit was inaugurated by
the Union Minister of Food
and Consumer Affairs, Prof
KV Thomas in the gracious
presence of Prof YK Alagh,
former Union Minister and
Chairman, IRMA; Prof MS
Swaminathan, pioneer of
Indias Green Revolution; Dr
RK Kusumariya, Agriculture
Minister, Madhya Pradesh;
and Sh B.K Sinha, Secre-tary, Ministry of Rural De-
velopment, Government of
India.
The event started with
a welcome note by Dr MJ
Khan, Chief Editor, Agricul-
ture Today. In his speech,
Dr Khan welcomed the
honorary guests and spoke
about the challenges faced
by Indian agriculture. He
said that Agriculture To-
Cover Feature Agriculture leAdership summit
day will continue its com-
mitment towards the Indian
farmers.
Prof Thomas, in his ad-
dress congratulated Agri-culture Today for organiz-
ing the event. He spoke
about various aspects of
Indian agriculture. He talk-
ed about the proposed food
security bill in detail. The
Food Security Bill proposed
to be introduced in the next
session of parliament will
be a historic step, said the
minister. Prof Thomas said
that several steps have
been taken by his minis-try to make the proposed
bill a success. He added
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that while tak-
ing these steps,
the ministry has
taken in consid-
eration the rec-
ommendations
of both National
Advisory Coun-cil (NAC) and
Economic Advisory Council (EAC).
Food security is not only about
providing food grains but it is also
about providing nutrition, said Prof
Thomas. Another main area of con-
cern in the agriculture sector in the
country as said by the minister is
storage. He said that the ministry
is working on different mechanisms
of food storage and that various
programmes and policies have been
formulated regarding this aspect.He said that the Public Distribu-
tion System (PDS) needs attention
too. The minister believes that the
PDS needs to be modernized by the
state governments. He hoped that
the Agriculture Leadership Summit
will be able to put some light on the
important issues of the agriculture
sector.
In his ad-
dress, Prof MS
Swminathan ,
father of Indias
Green Revolu-
tion talked about
the importance
of public policies
for farm growth.
He said that in the area of policy
formulation, for the rst time the
government has initiated the Na-
tional Policy for Farmers. Prof Swa-
minathan said that the farmer poli-
cies must focus on how to increase
the net income of the farmers. Healso suggested that the Ministry of
Agriculture should be changed to
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer
Welfare. In his speech, he also high-
lighted the serious concern of Crop
Holiday in Andhra Pradesh. He said
that the Crop Holiday should be a
wakeup call for farm policies. Prof
Swaminathan said that today there
is an urgent need to enhance the
non farm employment in the rural
areas. One of the key points raised
in his address was the lack of syner-gy between various policies for the
farm sector. He said, There is nolack of schemes and programmes
in India, but what is lacking is the
synergy among these schemes and
programmes.
Former Union
Minister, Prof
YK Alagh in his
speech raised
the burning is-
sue of food in-
ation. The ma-
jor point of his
speech was the
question raised by all of us today.
Will the food ination come un-
der control? asked Prof Alagh. He
said, it is time that necessary steps
are taken to bring the rising ination
under control. He said that without
a proper framework, just formulat-
ing macro policies will not help the
farmers. Prof Alagh said that there
is miscalculation in most of the poli-
cies because of the lack of proper
information. India has grossly un-derestimated its urbanization by 40
million people, said Alagh. Accord-
ing to the former minister, improved
technologies, better infrastructure,
proper incentives are some the im-
portant areas that need immediate
attention to im-
prove the agri-
culture sector in
India.
Dr RK Kusumari-
ya, Agriculture
Minister of thestate of Mad-
hya Pradesh shared the plight ofIndian farmers in his speech. The
existence of our farmers is in ques-
tion today, said Dr Kusumariya. He
highlighted the fact that how in our
country farmers are getting poorer
and poorer. Dr Kusumariya spoke
about various areas of the agricul-
ture that need focus. He said that
the group of small and marginal
farmers needs special policies for
their upliftment. Other areas which
he said need more focus are live-
stock management and organic
farming. With the help of activi-
ties like organic farming and carbon
sequestration, we can denitely
achieve food security, the minister
said.
Sh BK Sinha,
Secretary, Min-
istry of Rural
D eve l o pmen t
highlighted the
importance of
Mahatma Gan-dhi National Ru-
ral Employment
Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the
upliftment of the farmers. He be-
lieves that the programme has had
a salutary effect on the rural people.
Mr Sinha believes that from the agri-
culture point of view, there exists a
tremendous potential in MGNREGA.
If we do improvement in 70 per
cent of our land using MGNREGA,
second Green Revolution can de-
nitely be brought, said Mr Sinha.He said that there is a need of more
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medium and micro policies for our
farmers rather than macro policies.
He added that policy integration at
the grass root level is the key to
success in the agriculture sector.
Political Leaders Session
The Political Leaders Sessionwas held under the chairmanship
of former Minister of State for Agri-
culture, Sh Sompal which included
Sh Sham Lal Sharma, Horticulture
Minister of the state of Jammu and
Kashmir and former minister Oscar
Fernandes.
The session
started with
the address of
Sh Sham Lal
Sharma who
spoke aboutthe tremendous
potential of ag-
riculture and
horticulture sector in the state of
Jammu and Kashmir. He also talked
about the various achievements of
the state in the horticulture sector.
Sh Sharma highlighted the various
programmes and schemes initiated
by the state to promote horticul-
ture in the state. He said that the
state of J&K is fully committed in
developing the agriculture sector in
the state. Sh Sharma concluded
his speech by expressing his happi-
ness for winning State Horticulture
Leadership Award 2011
In his speech,
former Union
Minister, Os-
car Fernandes
spoke about the
various aspects
of agriculture
sector like thecrisis of labour
shortage in the rural areas. How to
make up the loss of labour in the
agriculture sector is a key issue to
be addressed, said Mr Fernandes.
He said that the focus should be on
each and every farmer family and
steps must be taken to nd out
ways for supplementary income for
them. In his address, Sh Fernandes
also talked about the problems
faced by the sugarcane farmers in
the country.
Sh Sompal con-
gratulated the
Agriculture To-
day for organiz-
ing the summit.
He said that In-
dian agriculture
needs a com-
plete re look.
More investment and more budget-
ary allocations are required for theagriculture sector, said Sh Sompal.
He brought out the issue of waste-
land management in his address.
He said that policies are required to
harness wasteland in the country.
Sh Sompal also said that the agri-
culture sector needs more research
and study. He believes that the
Indian biodiversity is unmatched
on earth but not enough has been
done to harness this rich diversity.
He also said that livestock manage-
ment needs more focus too. TheAgriculture and Livestock potential
has been grossly underestimated.
said Mr Sompal.
Industry Leaders Session
The Industry Leaders Session
was held under the chairmanship
of Salil Singhal, MD, PI Industries
Limited which included prominent
industry leaders Dr S Bhattachrjee,
MD, NERAMAC; Mr Kapil Mehan,
MD, Coromandal International Limit-
ed; Mr Raul Rebello, Vice President-
Strategy Initiatives, Axis Bank; and
Dr AK Rajput, ED, All India Poultry
Breeders Association.
In his speech,
Dr S Bhattacha-
rjee spoke about
the problems
and issues of
agri business in
the North East
Region of thecountry. He said
that the main challenges of agri
business in the region are: poverty,
small land holdings, natural calami-
ties, and weak institutional credit
system among others. He said that
it is important that the exotic prod-
ucts of North East especially hor-
ticultural produces like Kiwi needs
promotion and attention. Dr Bhat-
tacharjee said that the horticulture
sector in the North East has a tre-
mendous potential. He hoped thatthe summit will help in taking for-
ward the cause of farmers of the
North East.
Mr Kapil Mehan
in his address
highlighted the
issue of crop
nutrition and
soil health. He
said that while
formulating poli-
cies, the view
point of the industries is often
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unheard. Mr Mehan believes that
sectors like fertilizer needs policy
reforms. He said that the soils are
becoming decient in micro nutri-
ents and immediate actions are re-
quired to check this problem. India
has mastered the art of correctingpolicies only when there is a crisis,
said Mr Mehan. He said that there is
a gap between the formulation and
implementation of policies. Mr Me-
han believes that there is an urgent
need of a debate to nd out wheth-
er agriculture should be a Central,
State or Concurrent subject. He
said that the time has come to move
away from too many notications
and approvals. He believes that the
focus should shift from productivity
to farmers income and well being.We should provide to farmers India
as a market and not just his locality
or the district, said Mr Mehan.
The Vice Presi-
dent, Strategy
Initiatives of Axis
Bank, Mr Raul Re-
bello in his speech
spoke about the
ow of rural credit
to farmers. He
pointed out that
from 2002 to 2010, the ow of agri
credit has almost increased seven
times. He said that the banks tend
to look at agriculture as a mandatory
business rather than a willing one.
Mr Rebello said that steps must be
taken to change such an attitude.
He added that policy reforms arerequired to increase the credit ow
to agriculture. In his speech, Mr re-
bello also talked about the various
initiatives taken by the Axis bank
in promoting the agriculture sector.
He said that through its various in-
novative and pro farmer schemes
and programmes, Axis Bank stands
out in the eld of agri lending.
Another speaker
and eminent in-
dustry person,
Dr AK Rajput inhis speech spoke
about poultry
farming and said
that farmers
practicing poul-
try farming along with agriculture
are better off. He said that contract
farming can be a boon to the poultry
industry as in such a practice farm-
ers are free from market uctua-
tions. In his speech he talked about
the model on contract farming fol-
lowed by Sugna Group. Dr Rajput
highlighted the various achieve-
ments and the phenomenal growth
of the Group due to contract farm-
ing. He believes that contract farm-
ing can add to the income of Indian
farmers.
Salil Singhal,in his address
spoke about the
importance of
agro chemicals
for agricultural
p roduct iv i t y .
Agro chemical
is a very critical
activity required for agriculture,
said Mr Singhal. He said that the
agro chemicals sector is caught
between the environmentalists and
agricultural need. Mr Singhal saidthat there is a need to remove the
unnecessary fears among the farm-
ers about agro chemicals. He also
highlighted the lack of a clear Na-
tional Pesticide Policy. He believes
that today, the need of agro chemi-
cals and technology has grown even
more due to the lack of labour.
Policy and state session
The policy and state session
was chaired by Sh Chandrashekar
Sahu, Honble Agriculure Minister,
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AGRICULTURE TODAYOctober 2011 25
Chattisgarh, and included Mr. San-
jeev Chopra, IAS Joint Secretary
Agriculture, GOI and Mr. JS Mishra,
Commisioner KVIC.
Mr. Chandrashe-
kar Sahu talked
about how to
tackle age oldissue of agri-
culture and the
extent environ-
mental changes
impacting agri-
culture. He said we should encour-
age the role of women in Indian
agriculture. There should be promo-
tion of small Agri business and it
will add in achieving food security.
Mr Sanjeev
Chopra empha-
sized that the
fact is after
the success of
green revolution
the agriculture
development isdeclining and al-
location of state Govt. to something
called Agriculture came down. Ag-
riculture is the major contributor in
increasing the countrys GDP. There
should also be policy reformation
as earlier we use to design policy
which help us in enhancement of
surplus, export and we have to re-
design Agriculture insurance and
Kisan credit card. Important thing
to note is that its not technology
which is at fault but the owner-ship of technology which should be
more of interest to farmers/ stake-
holders.
Mr JS Mishra
said that farm-
ers should be in
good situation
for quality of life
to be sustained.A lot of activity
need to be sup-
plemented for
agriculture.
Experts Session
The Experts session was chaired
by Dr PL Gautam, Chairman, pro-
tection of Plant Varieties and Farm-
ers Rights Authority. It included Dr
Swapan K Dutta, DDG CS, ICAR
and Mr. SK Nanda, Secretary of En-
vironment and Forest, Government
of Gujarat.
In his address,
Dr Swapan Dut-
ta talked primar-
ily about science
and technology
in relation to
agriculture. He
said that marketintelligence and
new technologies like Biotechnolo-
gy are keys towards developing the
agriculture sector. In this regard, Dr
Dutta gave the example of coun-
tries like Brazil which has made
tremendous growth in the agricul-
ture due to the use of science and
technology. Science and organiza-
tion are the two main inputs needed
for agriculture, said Dr Dutta. He
also said that the biggest challenge
of Indian agriculture is policy imple-mentation. Dr Dutta believes that
there is no lack of policies in India,
what lacks is the proper implemen-
tation of the policies.
Mr. SK Nanda,
Secretary of En-
vironment and
Forest, Govern-
ment of Gujarat
in his speech
focused on the
need based prag-
matic reform in
Indian agriculture. He said that one
of the areas that need focus for
the farm growth is information and
communication. Like IT, we need
to change agriculture into a user
friendly one, said Mr Nanda. He
believes that, there is a need of mo-
bile connectivity between the agri-
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cultural universities and the farmers.
He also highlighted the need of rural
infrastructure to mitigate the migra-
tion of people from rural to urban
areas. He talked about the concept
of RURBAN model in developing the
agriculture sector. As dened by Mr
Nanda, RURBAN is a mix of Rural
and Urban development. He also
talked about the necessity of Lab
to Land Programmes to improve
the agriculture sector. Another key
area of his speech was the need of
Minimum Support Price to farmers.
If a farmer rediscovers the price he
invests, he gets encouragement to
invest more in agriculture, said Mr
Nanda.
In his speech,
the chairman of
the Experts Ses-sion, Dr Gautam
spoke about the
importance of
information and
technology dis-
semination to
the farmers. Experience of farm-
ers and knowledge of scientists to-
gether can lead to success, said Dr
Gautam. Like most other speakers
he also said that the implementation
of policies in the eld of agriculture
is the key issue to be addressed.He also highlighted the importance
of biodiversity conservation in his
speech. He said that summits like
the Agriculture Leadership Summit
should focus on nding out possible
ways to develop Indian Agriculture.
The international s and the Civil So-
ciety Session
The International and the Civil
Society Session was held under the
chairmanship of former Rajya Sab-
ha MP Dr Sharad Joshi. The session
included eminent persons like: Mr
Yahel Vilan, Deputy Chief of Mis-
sion, Israel; Dr Rita Sharma, mem-
ber secretary, NAC; DR Kaarthikey-
an, former CBI director; Dr V Ranga
Rao, CEO of Annadata, ETV; and Dr
Madhu Purnima Kishwar from Cen-
tre for Study of Developing Societ-
ies. In his speech,
Mr Yahel Vilan
talked about the
excellent bilat-
eral cooperation
of India and Isra-
el in the eld of
agriculture. The
key sector of our
bilateral cooperation is Agriculture,
said the Deputy Chief of Mission, Is-
rael. He praised India for the various
agriculture related growth. He alsotalked about the various similarities
between the two countries includ-
ing the similarities in the agriculture
sector. According to Mr Vilan, prop-
er implementation of policies is of
utmost importance in promoting the
agriculture sector.
Dr Rita Sharma
spoke about the
need for mobi-
lizing a second
green revolution.
She spoke about
various aspects
that can help
bringing a sec-
ond green revolution in the country.
She dened the rst green revolu-
tion as a cornucopia and also a Pan-
doras Box. She said that rst green
revolution led to increased agricul-
tural productivity but it also causeda great deal of environmental prob-
lems like depletion of the water ta-
ble. In her speech, Dr Sharma point-
ed out the need of special policies
for the small and marginal farmers
who were not taken into consider-
ation in the rst green revolution.
There is a need of sustainable in-
tensication of agriculture rather
than intensication of agriculture
to start a second green revolution
in the country, said Dr Sharma.
She talked about the need of poli-cies based on the idea of Save and
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Grow that is intensication along
with conservation.
Former CBI
Director DR
Kaa r t h i keyan
talked in details
about the agrar-
ian crisis in hisspeech. Quoting
P Sainath, Rural
Affairs Editor of
The Hindu, around 2, 70000 farm-
ers have committed suicides in the
last decade. He pointed out the
burning issue of Crop Holiday in
the state of Andhra Pradesh. Hu-
man Dimension should be the focus
while initiating agricultural policies,
he said. Mr Kaarthikeyan said that
lesser and lesser investments have
been made in the sector of agricul-ture. He also talked about the im-
portance of livestock sector in live-
lihood generation. Mr Kaarthikeyan
believes that special schemes and
policies are needed for the small
and landless farmers. He said that
agriculture needs to be turned into
a more attractive occupation so
that more and more youth can be
attracted towards this area.
Dr V Ranga Rao, another speaker
on behalf of the Civil Society Ses-
sion talked about the role of media
in the farm growth. Dr Rao said
that the media
must positively
inuence the
policy makers
for farm growth.
He said that
the farm sec-
tor is undergo-ing worst crisis
today. Because of unsustainable
and unrewarding agriculture, there
has been a crop holiday in AP,
said Dr Rao. He believes that there
is a need of second green revolution
in the country and information and
technology dissemination is must
for it. He also talked about the vari-
ous steps and programmes initiated
by Annadata, ETV for the benet of
farmers. Annadata telecasts vari-
ous agriculture related programmesand encourages the farmers to help
themselves, said Dr Rao. Like
many other speakers, Dr Rao also
said that the biggest challenge of
Indian agriculture is the lack of im-
plementation of the farm policies.
In her ery
speech, Dr
Madhu Purnima
Kishwar spoke
about the mis-
erable condition
of the Indian
farmers. She
expressed her disappointment over
governments failure in improving
the condition of the Indian farm-
ers. She said that the status of ag-
riculture has changed from the best
to worst. She said that it is not a
time to have false optimism about
the agriculture sector but a time tohonestly revise our farm policies.
This is not a time to congratulate
ourselves but a time to seriously re-
vise our agricultural policies, said
Dr Kishwar. She also expressed her
disappointment over media for its
lack of responsibility towards the
agriculture sector. Dr Kishwar said
that surveys show that the time
and space allocated to agriculture
by both print and electronic media
is negligible. She ended her speech
by saying, Our farmers and ven-dors are not scared of the Wallmart
but they are scared of the police.
The session was concluded
with a brief speech by the chairper-
son, Dr Sharad Joshi. He said that
the anti farmer policies are the big-
gest obstacle today. He said that
opposition to new technologies by
many NGOs can be a great obstacle
to farm growth. Dr Joshi thanked
the Agriculture Today team for or-
ganizing the summit and keeping a
civil society session on policy re-
forms for farm growth.
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