Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 1: A seminar on “An initiative by Prime Minister- Building a New India: Pledge to Double Farmers’ Income by 2022″ was organized by Indian Institute of Public Administration, J&K Regional Branch here today.
The programme was attended by progressive farmers from various districts of Jammu division, bankers, Agricultural Scientist from SKUAST, officers from Agriculture Department and IIPA Members.
Dr Pardeep K Sharma, Vice Chancellor, SKUAST Jammu, who was the chief guest, highlighted that India being an agrarian economy the farming sector has to be strengthened through reforms. He lamented that the youth were not interested in pursuing agriculture as a career but simultaneously “New Age Farmers” from non agriculture background are turning towards agri-entrepreneurship.
Director Agriculture Jammu, HK Razdan, who was the guest of honour, recounted the reforms and performance of Agriculture Department and lauded the farmers of the State for a significant increase in the agriculture production. He favoured reforms on ground level in farm practices including proper use of irrigation and use of quality seeds which will help in doubling the income of farmers.
Dr Ashok Bhan, former DGP and Patron IIPA J&K Regional Branch highlighted the role of agriculture and allied sector in the Indian economy. He termed the farmers suicides as unfortunate. The stress among the farming community and the reduction in contribution of agriculture to the GDP urgently require reforms which can lead to doubling the income of farmers from an average of Rs 96,703 per household in 2015-16 to Rs 2,19,724 by 2022-23. Dr Bhan citing a World Bank report said that the work force for agriculture in India will shrink from the current over 50 per cent of the population to 25.7 per cent in 2050.
Earlier, Dr CM Seth, IFS (Retd) Vice Chairman IIPA J&K Regional Branch welcomed the participants and introduced the theme. Dr Ashwani Jojra, Assistant Project Officer, Agriculture Department, deliberated on the role of Department of Agriculture in achieving the pledge to double the income of farmers by 2022. Rakesh Badyal, KAS, Additional Secretary, RDD spoke about the schemes implemented by Rural Development Department.
Dr Dalip Kachroo, Registrar SKUAST Jammu presented a model for Integrated Farming System developed by the University. Chander Mohan, Deputy Director (Retd) Agriculture Department focused on achieving goals of Gram Swarajya and make rural areas self reliant. Aman Kalsotra, AGM NABARD spoke about the interventions by NABARD and discussed how the incomes of the farmers could be increased.
The IIPA newsletter was also released on this occasion. VN Sharma presented the formal vote of thanks.
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