Aiming to double farmers' income, the union government is organising a two-day brain storming event for farmers, 'National conference on doubling of farmers' income'. The event would be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who apparently was keen to interact farmers on a platform. “Prime minister will visit on the second day, other than that farmers, scientists, policy planners, economists and other allied ministry officials and state government officials will take part in the event,” said S.C. Pattanayak, agriculture secretary.
“Issues concerning farmers' income in near term, medium term and long term will be discussed at the meet. We hope to bring in a harmony of new ideas and evolve with some viewpoints of the farmers. Otherwise, we are making policy decisions in seclusion by ourselves at the ministry,” said Pattanayak.
The two-day event to be held at the Indian Agriculture Research Institution (IARI) Pusa campus in the capital will aim at preparing a roadmap or a white paper at the end of the conference.
The discussions at the gala would be divided into seven sections namely, agriculture waste to wealth; trade policy and export promotion; marketing agri-logistics and agri-value system; value chain and supply chain management; science and technology; ICT in agriculture; capital investments and institutional credit for farmers; and promotion of livestock, dairy, poultry and fisheries as engine of growth.
The elaborate conference may not discuss the aspect of irrigation, which the Food and Agricultural Organisation suggested would improve crop yield and farmers' income by at least 2.5 times. “We want to see how people look at problems. It is a novel way devised by the PM to look at a problem by including farmers' voice. This has never been done before,” said the union agriculture secretary.
This self-help by farmers and crowd sourcing of ideas are already being co-ordinated by the ministry for over last two months through WhatsApp. “We are seeing good interest among the participants there. They have also visited Delhi for one or two times as part of this initiative in last two months,” said Ashok Dalwai, chairman, National Rainfed Area Authority.
Apparently, among the many ways to double farmers income, the ministry of agriculture, along with the finance ministry, is also looking at ways to expand the list of tax deductible activities allowed to be conducted under the corporate CSR funds. “We are thinking of expanding the list of activities by including aspects like skill development in agriculture,” said Pattanayak.
The agriculture ministry, tasked to conduct the event successfully by the PM's office, will also look at reducing aggravation caused to farmers owing to sudden crash in prices of agricultural commodities. Already the NITI Aayog has been tasked to consult with states to formulate a mechanism for the central government to provide assistance to farmers who had to sell their crops below the government-announced MSP rates.
