CropLife India's 42nd AGM: "The Biggest Challenge for Humankind is to Conserve Soil"

5:48 PM Dharmesh Gupta, Director, CropLife India & Managing Director at Bharat Certis Agriscience Limited concluded the event with a vote of thanks.

5:00 PM Dr. Sanjay Arya, Secretary CIB & RC, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, in his speech, invited all stakeholders to come and discuss the issues with him. 

4:50 PM In the fifth discussion of the day, Dr. S K Malhotra, Project Director at ICAR- Directorate of Knowledge Management in Agriculture said, "We have resolved several issues and tried to bring ease in doing business in the agriculture industry."

4:00 PM Shashank Kumar, Chief Operating Officer, DeHaat said, "We are reaching 1.4 million farmers, we have 109 warehouses at the district level and approximately 10,000 DeHaat centers."

3:46 PM Taking the usage of drones in agriculture discussion further, Abhishek Burman, Chief Executive Officer of General Aeronautics talked about the advantages of using drones in agriculture. He said that effective spraying through drones will create help create employment in rural areas. 

3:29 PM Dr. R K Malik, Country Coordinator, CIMMYT talked about promoting water use efficiency.

3:12 PM In the fourth discussion of the day on the topic 'Enhancing Crop Protection Efficiency', Dr. Indra Mani, Vice Chancellor of Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth gave the welcome address. She said, "Farmers in India are very enthusiastic about using technologies. We should do the work to show them how to accept new changes. Indian agriculture means technology and future agriculture can beat any country in the world. Since agriculture is an important part, we can see many changes take place like the use of drones, which can play an important role in the Agri sector. The drone industry is very bright and farmers are going to use this in times to come."

1:50 PM Siang Hee, TAN Executive Director CropLife Asia, Ronald Verdok, Minister Counsellor for Agriculture Affairs Embassy of the United States of America, and Mariano Beheran, Minister Agricultural Attache Embassy of Argentina spoke about their points of view on agriculture from a global perspective and where the Indian agriculture is right now. 

1:28 PM In his speech, Lal said, "We are working with the government to work on enhancing opportunities. India is positioning itself as an important player in the world food supply chain."

1:25 PM The third session of the day, with the topic of discussion being 'International Perspective: India @100', was kickstarted with a welcome address by Sanjiv Lal, Director, CropLife India & Managing Director & CEO of Rallis India Limited. 

1:23 PM Rahul Dhanuka, Director, CropLife India & Chief Operating Officer, Dhanuka Aritech Limited delivered the vote of thanks

1:21 PM "UP's picture is changing for the good," proclaimed the minister.

1:19 PM "We have 89 KVK's in UP that is helping in making farmers aware of the technology available and their usage. I'd want some of the big names in the industry to adopt each KVK, and make it a temple for us and the Agri sector," he continued. 

1:10 PM Surya Pratap Shahi, Agriculture Minister, Govt of Uttar Pradesh said, "Our food production has increased manifold. Uttar Pradesh has contributed 21% to India's food sector. And now we will be spending Rs 192 crores on the promotion of bioagents."

12:50 PM He ended his speech by declaring that this will be India's century.

12:34 PM "Our PM Modi's initiatives have helped 76,65,000 farmers in MP and the number of farmer suicides has also come down," he continued.

12:28 PM He said, "Krishi should have been given equal importance as corporates after independence. Unfortunately, it did not happen. Even Mahatma Gandhi mentioned that the real India resides in its villages but sadly, that only remained as a slogan and nothing more."

12:22 PM Kamal Patel, Agriculture Minister, Govt of Madhya Pradesh started his speech with a 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' salutation at the event and announced that he considers himself a farmer first and a politician second.

12:03 PM He added, "We are trying to bring farmers out of the debt trap with the help of several schemes that the state government has initiated." While talking about the role of agricultural extension, he said, "Unless we have a strong extension in the agriculture sector, the industry cannot grow or improve." 

12:00 PM Reddy proudly announced that Telangana is the first state in the country to have the maximum freshwater fish.

11:50 AM Singireddy Niranjan Reddy, Minister of Agriculture, Govt of Telangana, said, "The biggest challenge for humankind today is to conserve soil and leave it for the next generation to take it further."

11:46 AM "Farmer's quota used to be 40% earlier, but now it has been increased to 50% in schools. We are doing everything for farmer's children and to sustain agriculture," added Patil.  

11:40 AM B C Patil, Minister of Agriculture, Govt of Karnataka, connected with the audience virtually and said, "It's great to see the leaders of top agri states together on one platform. It's been 75 years since we got Independence, it is time for India to reach higher heights now." 

11: 28 AM Kailash Choudhary, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer's Welfare, and Surya Pratap Shahi, Minister of Agriculture, Govt of Uttar Pradesh unveiled the Annual Report 

11:24 AM "A lot of barriers faced are being removed by the agriculture ministry. Easing the flow of business is our priority right now. The Indian government is positive about it and we are sure we can make the Agri sector truly independent," Kailash said.

11:20 AM "We'll ensure to help farmers continuously. The Pesticides Act, which is to come soon, will help the agriculture industry and the farmers as well," Kailash added.

11:04 AM Kailash Choudhary, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer's Welfare, chief guest of the AGM conference said that "We are becoming atmanirbhar in sectors like horticulture and other agri-related fields. Media has played an important role in creating awareness in our sector." 

Speaking about the use of agrochemicals in agriculture, the minister said, "Judicious use of pesticides is important. We will keep a balance to grow healthy food but also keep up with the requirement of our population."

10:50 AM Nand Kishore Aggarwal, Chairman, Crystal Crop Protection Limited addressed the conference on the subject "Amrit Kaal: Role of Crop Protection". He said that "We'll be making India independent and turn it into the sparrow of gold like we were earlier. We will work on ways to improve ease of business in India." 

The top shots from the industry participated in the conference as panelists, with Kailash Choudhary, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare as its Chief Guest.