Experts at a Webinar have stressed the need to promote integrated waste management systems, green chemistry, bio solutions, and pesticides to help produce safe food.
In order to achieve this, we should start with certifications and multi-levels safety standards that will ensure safe food production and consumption. In this regard, we would recommend farmers to choose high yield crops like oilseeds, pulses, millets said Dr Suresh Kumar Malhotra, Agriculture Commissioner of the Union Government .
He was addressing a webinar organized by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) on “Risk Management in Indian Agriculture”- Ensuring Secure Livelihood for Farmers.
Dr Malhotra apprised that the Government of India has submitted a proposal to United Nations that the International Year of Millets may be observed in the year 2023. “This shows how we choose our crop, where to have the best combinations with minimum resources and more output”.
Several rural resources are being affected due to unforeseen circumstances and, some mechanism needs to be developed and implemented to ensure that the agriculture cycle does not get hampered. “We need to make agriculture resilient to the uncertainties of the future”, he said.
Dr Malhotra said that the government was keen to increase water use efficiency to increase agriculture efficiency. More crops are being promoted so that we can invest in utilization of water; sprinklers and micro-irrigation which have been installed for the same. “We also have a production and national agriculture system which is evolving. Farmers are also given weather warning systems so that they are aware of any climate crisis before hand”, he added.
The webinar was followed by a panel discussion on – Mitigating Risk in Indian Agriculture which was moderated by Shri G. Chandrashekhar,
Shri Sanjay Aggarwal, President, PHDCCI, in his address dwelt upon the work done by PHDCCI in constructing check dams in various parts of the nation and lauded the efforts made by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare for seamless working.
He stressed the need for go for risk management which will help farmers to control the various unforeseen risks factors and at the same time help farmers to grow and prosper. He mentioned that there is a need for better education options for the farmers.
Shri Nand Kishore Aggarwal, Chairman-Agriculture Committee, PHDCCI, while harping on the need to adopt stringent policies to control food risk management, mentioned that it was essential to involve the industry and insurance for development in the sector.
Shri Saurabh Sanyal, Secretary-General, PHDCCI, gave an overview about the importance of the agriculture sector in contributing towards the economy and livelihood and discussed the challenges faced and opportunities garnered by the sector amidst the pandemic, and the need for inclusion of technology to mitigate quality risks.
