To increase farmers' income and achieve self-sufficiency in edible oils, maize, mustard, and moong cultivation should be promoted, a senior official from the union agriculture ministry said on Saturday.
A K Singh, the Agriculture Commissioner for the Government of India and the Deputy Director General (Agriculture Extension) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), also advocated for the use of technologies like drones in the agricultural sector.
He was speaking at a consultative meeting "Emerging Challenges in Plant Protection of Major Kharif Crops," organized in association with agro-chemical Company Dhanuka Group.
"Crop diversification must be aggressively promoted. The production of the 3Ms-Maize, moong, and mustard, should be promoted rather than wheat and rice since it may assist the nation to achieve self-sufficiency and at the same time help to increase the income of farmers "In a statement, Singh was quoted as saying.
About 60% of India's domestic edible needs are imported. Pulses are also imported, although in a small quantity.
Singh also emphasized the need of adopting current technology and urged agricultural research organizations to create drone usage guidelines as soon as possible.
"We also need to have a contingency plan for different crops way in advance so that farmers can adopt it," Singh said.
Several prominent agricultural scientists from 33 Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVKs) and scientists from ICAR took part in the consultative meeting, which also included policymakers, businesspeople, and farmers.
RG. Agarwal, Chairman of the Dhanuka Group, emphasized the importance of using modern technology, high-quality Agri-inputs, and "Integrated Crop Management" methods.
"We might consider implementing "Integrated Crop Management" as a practice, along the lines of Integrated Pest Management. This will assist in addressing important issues relating to various crops grown throughout the nation. Today, we need precision agriculture to increase crop output and farmer revenue, "said Agarwal.
He added, "Technology must play a significant role in it, and therefore the agricultural industry is adopting drones and other technology in a big way."
"Unfortunately, lesser quality and inferior products dominate India's Agri-input sector, especially the agrochemical segment. To achieve the government's noble goal of doubling farmers' income, it is essential to address the threat of substandard Agri-inputs as soon as possible "Agarwal" said.
This is the first time a national-level consultation meeting has been organized in collaboration with the private sector, according to Rajbir Singh, Director of the ICAR-Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute (ATARI). Singh expressed the hope that the recommendations from the meeting would assist farmers in overcoming the problem of pests and various crop diseases.
"Farmers will greatly benefit by adopting integrated pest management techniques, and it needs to be embraced integrated pest management techniques and it needs to be implemented holistically," stated Subhash Chander, Director, ICAR-NCIPM.
