Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar solicited international cooperation in achieving the farm goal set by the country. He claimed that India has the ability to become “aatm nirbhar” in agriculture and supply the world’s food needs. “We’d want to work together.
In his speech at a FICCI event, Thought Leadership Initiative, he said, “I utilise this opportunity to ask the world community to join hands with us for the benefit of coming generations.”
Noting that the country’s Agri exports had crossed the milestone of Rs 4 lakh crore, he said: “We are working to increase it further.”
Tomar said the government is constantly working to make the country “aatm nirbhar”, and as a result, Indian agriculture recorded a robust growth of 3.9 per cent despite the pandemic.
In addition, he reiterated that the government aims to make Indian agriculture internationally competitive by aiding the small farmers in the country and listed several government programmes to reduce farming-related challenges.
“Due to an increase in investment in basic infrastructures like irrigation systems, storage, warehousing, and cold storage, Indian agriculture is expected to record robust growth in the coming years,” he added.
FICCI President Sanjiv Mehta said achieving food and nutrition security is a multifaceted challenge.
“Food systems can play a big role in protecting food security and nutrition if careful attention is paid to targeting the poor, reducing inequalities, including gender inequality and incorporating nutrition goals and actions that are relevant,” he said.