Adopt Swaminathan Committee recommendations for deciding MSP – Badal to Centre at CII Agro Tech

Need to push Agro Processing – Khattar at CII Agro Tech

Need to render Indian Agriculture on a global space –Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII

• India’s Premier Biennial Agro Technology & Business Fair inaugurated today at Chandigarh in presence of Governmental, Industrial and other key stakeholders
• ~ The four-day event will be a convergence point for Indian and international agri community, and will host 9 Concurrent Shows, Kisan Goshthees, International Conferences and Industry roundtables
• ~ Will have participation from lakhs of domestic & international farmers and key constituents of agri sector along with 36 international exhibitors & 126 domestic exhibitors

NewZNew (Chandigarh/Punjab/Haryana) : S. Parkash Singh Badal, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Government of Punjab while inaugurating the 11^th CII Agro Tech 2014, being organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at Parade Ground, sector 17 here today called on the Centre Government “to fix the Minimum Support Prices of crops like Wheat, paddy etc according to the relative ever rising input costs and implement the recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee while fixing the same, in order to improve the plight the farmers”.

“CII Agro Tech is a tremendous platform to showcase the latest technologies and best practices for the benefit of the farmers”, he said while complementing for putting up a brilliant CII Agro Tech.

“In Punjab alone, farmers are under heavy debt to the tune of Rs 30,000 crores. If the Swaminathan formula is not implemented, there would be more suicides. Further, Agriculture being the backbone of the economy, I would request the Centre to have a separate Budget for agriculture just like the Railways and Defence, which should be discussed and passed”, added Mr Badal.

“Further there is an urgent need to develop and modernize water irrigation facilities like canals, and a need to renew the focus on developing technologies and research. The centre should also fund all the Agri universities that are all financially starved.  I would also recommend a concession on loansgiven to small and marginal farmers which should be set at nearly 2% which will help make farming more lucrative and bring latency to the sector.

The farmers of the region (Punjab & Haryana) have contributed a lot to the agriculture sector of the country and now all stakeholders like the centre and state governments and the industry needs to support them in their quest. For long, the farmers of the region have come to the rescue of the country in terms of its food needs and now the central government needs to streamline policies to support the farmers of the region. It is heartening to see the new government at centre having focused policies for agriculture where policies are created for developing the agriculture of the sector today.

“To encourage diversification which would save the burden on soil and water, the centre must start procuring the certain commodities like Maize, pulses, cereals etc for which it has just fixed the MSPs yet”, added the Punjab CM.

Mr Manohar Lal Khattar, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Government of Haryana highlighted that, “If Agriculture progresses, the whole economy will progress; hence it is the time for a second Green Revolution which calls for an urgent cooperation of various stakeholders including the state & central governments, scientists, universities, institutes etc”.

“There is an urgent need to promote agro processing industry and set up the required logistics and supply chain requirement including the cold chains to reduce the burden on soil and also increase the earnings of the farmers”, added Mr Khattar.

“We are planning to launch Krishi Cards and introduce Cold Storages across the state so that the agro processing industry is benefitted. We are also promoting cooperative farming for various small farmers so that they do not have to resort to distress sale and get a profitable price”, he added.

“ The industry, scientists and the government should come together to create better private-public partnerships, develop better warehousing systems and invest in R & D  to develop better seeds, fertilizers and techniques with focus on small & marginal farmers to enhance their productivity”, he informed.

“Another big challenge is the depleting water levels in irrigation where diminishing levels are leaving less water for agricultural purposes. Solutions to the same are the utilization of bio-fertilizers and new irrigation techniques like fountain irrigation, drip irrigation which are the need of the hour”, he added.

Mr Ashish Bahuguna, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India said, I believe that Punjab & Haryana are still the food grain baskets of the country and will continue to be at the forefront of the agri revolution in the times to come. Today the challenges before the Indian agriculture are immense.  The farmers in India earn just 1/10^th of the total earnings of the non farmers. What is required is to increase the level of income for our farmers through innovative measures. To achieve this, the pattern of agriculture has to change. We have to move towards newer vistas like Horticulture and Animal Husbandry. I am looking forward to receive the gyst of recommendations from the CII, and look forward to work in close cooperation with them, he added.

Mr Brad Wall, Hon’ble Premier of Saskatchewan (Canada) shared that “A lot of opportunities for synchronisation and cooperation in agriculture exist between India, especially North India and Canada. Both the countries have huge research capabilities and can work together in agri R&D for mutual benefit.

“We look forward to partner with India in aspects of research and bringing innovations in Agriculture. Currently we have nearly 43 active agreements in force. University of Saskatchewan is working in close cooperation with the University of Hyderabad to develop nearly 90 varieties of chickpeas. We are also working in sequences of student exchanges and in research & development and will continue to do so in the future as well”, he added.

Complimenting the event he said that CII Agro Tech is an amalgamation of great minds.

Mr Ajay S Shriram, President, CII & Chairman & Sr. Managing Director, DCM Shriram Ltd said, “Today the Indian agriculture has come a long way from the times gone by. Agriculture in India is not anymore about sustenance, but is more about addressing the emerging food needs. Although the farmers are now able to meet growing demands of food, but still structural barriers remain in the growth of the sector. But saying that, there is a renewed optimism with the new government supports agricultural policies. New developments by the government have added a renewed vigour to the sector and have provided a critical opportunity to India to establish itself at the top. But to achieve the same, key barriers need to the executed. Via stronger public-private partnership model, we need to help reduce post-harvest losses and thus rationalise the market.”

“We believe that via streamlined measures by setting up processes, brand building, developing talent, develop agricultural research, scaling innovative solutions, promote mechanization, developing robotics increasing cold storage, research laboratories, promoting venture-capital funding and developing a national agricultural mission that we can achieve the same.”

We believe that the potential of the sector is manifold, and Agro Tech has been successful in establishing itself as a key stakeholder in the development of the sector. By helping to infuse key tech integrities, CII has established a distinctive position in the industry. And the gathering in here is a testimony to the same.”

Dr Pawan Goenka, Chairman, CII Agro Tech 2014 &. said, “Indian agriculture has come a long way since 1960, with the green & white revolution paving the way for greater success of the sector. Emphasising on the need to achieving global competitiveness, he said this is the only way to achieve the desired agri productivity levels in India.

Over the years, CII’s flagship biennial event, Agro Tech has become a much sought after agriculture event across India. This is one of its kind agri show with a large domestic participation and significant international presence, he added.

Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry said, “Today there is an urgent need for stakeholders to create value systems of operations. Via agricultural-industrial partnerships we can take the sector forward. Going forward, CII would push for measures for successful diversification. CII is keen to partner with the states and the private sector for investments. We are happy to have a partnership with Sheckezuan which is critical and carries a deep linkage with us. CII is much eager to adopt some villages in states to develop model villages for dairy production. We are also happy to announce that a Centre for Food & Agriculture is up and running which is working with many states benefitting 10000 farmers across states. The centre identifies value chain to catalyse production in the sector. We are confident that with concentrated efforts from all stakeholders we will achieve great results.”

Mr. Zubin Irani, Chairman, CII Northern Region & President – Building & Industrial Systems (India) United Technologies India Private Limited said, “Today the current developments in the agricultural sector have created a need for strong cooperation between agriculture and the industry. While greater technical innovations have created a robust value system, the need is now to bring rapid and huge investments in the sector along with channelization of distribution mechanisms & logistics, providing support services like marketing & agro business consulting, which will help bring more progress to the sector.”

Mr Salil Singhal, Co Chairman, CII National Council on Agriculture and Chairman & Managing Director, PI Industries Ltd commented, “The sector and the Industry needs to work together to bring more prosperity to the farmers of the country. New-age measures like Animal Husbandry and Food Processing need to be forwarded for the development of the sector. The time has come to go to the next level as it is a period of transformation. Today India has the potential to be the ‘Food Basket of the world’, and all that is needed now is to rethink innovatively to bring prosperity into the sector.”

“We need to come up with avenues that enable ease of doing business viz. a viz the Agricultural sector. The immediate need is for creating proactive administrative and policy making structure to bring more progress to the sector”, he concluded.

Focusing on developing mechanisms which help the farmers restructure their agricultural occupation, this edition of CII Agro Tech will talk about the industry best practices, technologies, latest innovations and strive towards policy changes.

The country’s premier Biennial Agro Technology & Business Fair will in the current edition have a large domestic and international participation including 36 international exhibitors and 126 domestic exhibitors. With Punjab & Haryana as the host states, the CII Agro Tech 2014 will have Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India along with Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India as the partner ministries. Other partners include Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes; CLFMA of India; Crop Care Federation of India; Fertiliser Association of India; Micronutrients Manufacturers Association; National Seed Association of India; Pesticides Formulators Association of India and Progressive Dairy Farmers Association.

About CII Agro Tech 2014

• The Fair will comprise nine concurrent International shows viz – Good Earth (Expo on Agri Inputs & Farming Technologies), Food Expo (Expo on Processed & Packaged Foods), Food Tech (Expo on Logistics & Packaging Technologies), Farm Services (Expo on Agri Commerce & Technology), Livestock (Expo on Livestock Management), International Pavilion and Implementex (Expo on Agri & Farm Implements)
•  The CII Agro Tech 2014 will also feature International Conferences on Horticulture Value Chain, Animal Husbandry, Innovations in Agriculture, World View of India as a Food Basket and Food Processing, Storage & Distribution; and Country specific Session on ‘Business Opportunities in Africa’.
•  Special ‘Kisan Goshthees’, including sessions in areas like protected agriculture & precision farming, climate change, water & soil management, use of solar energy for agriculture, organic farming and reducing pesticide usage, Agro processing & marketing, optimum use of Agri inputs, farm mechanization etc.
• Featuring over 200 new product launches, the CII Agro Tech 2014 will have participation of 36 overseas companies from countries including Canada, Italy, Israel, Germany, Spain, France, Poland, South Africa, The Netherlands and Russia. Also expected is participation by industry delegation from The Gambia and New Zealand.
•  Participation of more than 50000 farmers from major agricultural states like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu; along with Farmer delegation from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh

 About Agro Tech

Agro Tech, since its inception in 1994 has been CII’s flagship agri event. Under eminent leadership, each edition of this show has grown exponentially. Agro Tech works as an ideal interaction platform between the Farm Producers and the Agro Industry. By creating linkages for value creation and value addition, the exhibition offers varied business opportunities to the technology holders as well as practical learning to the technology users. The fair is the umbrella brand for several focused concurrent shows that have evolved with changing situations; the main being agri inputs, farm machinery, food processing & management, livestock, farmer services etc.