Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan chaired a high-level review meeting on June 24, 2024, at the ICAR Pusa Campus in New Delhi to assess the progress of the ‘Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan’. The campaign, conducted from May 29 to June 12, is part of the government's vision to transform Indian agriculture under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Lab to Land’ initiative. More than 2,170 nodal officers participated in the review, both in person and virtually, sharing key insights, field-level experiences, and outcomes from the campaign.
Calling the initiative a historic movement, Chouhan highlighted its significance in connecting agricultural scientists directly with farmers across over 60,000 villages. He stated that the campaign would continue with renewed energy and a sharper focus on enhancing farmers’ incomes, ensuring food security, and establishing India as a global food basket.
The Minister emphasized the need to promote biofortified crops, adopt sustainable farming practices, advance mechanization, and ensure the holistic development of soil health, coastal agriculture, and animal husbandry.
Chouhan also proposed the launch of a ‘Crop War’ a mission-mode approach for key crops such as pulses, oilseeds, soybean, cotton, and sugarcane. This would involve crop- and state-specific strategies, research prioritization, stricter regulation of agricultural inputs, and the deployment of special enforcement teams to ensure compliance.
He further called for strengthening Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) by appointing dedicated nodal officers and ensuring active field participation by agricultural scientists. A two-day conference is also planned ahead of the Rabi season, with one day reserved for officials and the second for agriculture ministers, to finalize the next phase of implementation.
The campaign aims to foster inter-institutional learning among ICAR bodies, align research-extension strategies with national development goals, and strengthen coordination with state agriculture departments and KVKs.
Senior officials including Haryana Agriculture Minister Shyam Singh Rana, MoA&FW Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi, ICAR Director General Dr. M. L. Jat, and other senior ICAR scientists attended the meeting. Several state agriculture ministers and ICAR teams also joined the session virtually.
