The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare is organizing a National Conference under the title of "Agriculture 2022 – Doubling Farmers' Income" on February 19-20 in New Delhi.
Talking to reporters Agriculture Secretary SK Pattanaik said that the main aim of the conference is to build a consensus around appropriate recommendations that will help in shaping and sharpening the vision of the Government on Doubling Farmers' Income by 2022 into actionable points.
"The idea is to arrive at practicable solutions that can be implemented for the benefit of farmers in the country. Government is keen to find and adopt the suggestions of the participants that will help in yielding quick results across the agricultural sector, comprising several sub-sectors in addition to initiating long term interventions," he added.
The focus would be on the human element of this primary sector, i.e., the farmer. It shall be farming for the farmer.
As many as seven broad themes have been identified for the conference and some of these also have sub-themes. The participants comprising farmers, farmers' associations, scientists, economists, academics, trade industry, professional associations, NGOs, policy makers and officers have been assigned to different themes and sub-themes, such that the issues are examined from multiple angles and comprehensive recommendations are made.
Senior officers leading various domains including agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, dairying & fisheries, marketing, & cooperation have been invited as their appreciation of the field will be important in harmonising National and State level policies and programmes. It is also expected that an implementation strategy as well as outcomes arising from these suggestions would be defined and reconciled into the Government's Strategy for Doubling Farmers' Income by 2022 on which the Inter-Ministerial Committee is finalising its strategy.
On the first day, the conference will be attended by several dignitaries such as the Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Governor of Himachal Pradesh, Vice Chairman NITI Aayog, Ministers of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Member (Agriculture) NITI Aayog, etc.
The select participants numbering about 300 have been invited from across the country with varied background, and are expected to bring to the table their domain experience and expertise. All the participants have been provided with background material on all the themes prepared by reputed institutions/organisations.
The Prime Minister has agreed to join the Conference in the last session on 20th February and hear all the presentations. Thereafter, he will be sharing his vision and insights on agricultural development and farmers' welfare.It is expected that the Ministry of Agriculture will benefit from valuable inputs that will emerge from the Conference.