Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged farmers to use scientific advancements such as artificial intelligence to boost output, aggressively sell domestic natural and organic products and processed food and to promote Indian millets in the global arena.
Continuing with his webinar on budget provisions, Modi advised farmers and people working in the agricultural sector on Thursday to utilize increased awareness for environment friendly lifestyle and the ensuing demand for natural and organic products. He exhorted the Kisan Vikas Kendras to raise awareness about natural farming by adopting a village each for the purpose of promoting natural farming.
Modi emphasized that artificial intelligence would soon transform the agricultural and farming trends. Drones are becoming more popular in farming, which is contributing to the change. "Drone technology will be available on a scale only when we promote agri-startups. More than 700 agri startups have been created in the country during the last 3 to 4 years "he stated.
According to Modi, the government has been working to broaden the scope of processed foods while maintaining international quality standards. "Along with the Kisan Sampada Yojana, the performance-linked incentive scheme is critical in this respect. The value chain also plays a big role. Therefore, a special agriculture infrastructure fund of '1 lakh crore has been created," Modi said.
According to Modi, next year has been declared as the International Year of Millets, and he has urged the corporate world to promote and promote Indian millets. He asked major Indian missions to hold seminars and other promotional activities to raise awareness of the quality and benefits of Indian millets.
According to Modi, the budget includes seven proposals to modernize the agriculture sector. As the measures, he listed natural farming on mission mode within 5 km on both sides of the Ganges, offering technology to farmers, Mission Oil Palm to minimize edible oil imports and PM Gati-Shakti for agricultural product transportation. Improved agri-waste management and increased farmer income through waste-to-energy solutions, regular banking through over 1.5 lakh post offices, and changes to agricultural research and education syllabus to meet demands of modern times for skill development and human resource development were the other measures in the budget, he said.
For agri-residue management, "some new measures have been adopted in this budget, as a result of which carbon emissions will be reduced and farmers will also get income," he stated.
He suggested that ways for using agri-waste for packaging be developed. He mentioned the possibility of ethanol blending in fuels. According to him, blending was at 8% in 2015, up from 1-2% in 2014. India's cooperative sector is thriving and farmers should strive to transform cooperatives into successful profitable companies, he says.
