Prime Minister Narendra Modi today declared that India has sufficient surplus food grain to run one of the world’s biggest food security programmes.

India’s goal was not just increasing food grain production. “We are focusing on food security as well as nutrition security. With this vision, we have developed many bio-fortified varieties in the last seven years,” he said

India, Modi said, was also focusing on establishing Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) and an agriculture value chain. “We wish to create an alert and potent market force out of small farmers by organising them into thousands of FPOs”, he said.

The PM visited the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) campus in Patancheru, Hyderabad and kick-started the 50th Anniversary celebrations of ICRISAT. He also inaugurated the ICRISAT’s Climate Change Research Facility on Plant Protection and ICRISAT’s Rapid Generation Advancement Facility. These two facilities are dedicated to the smallholder farmers of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Underlining the importance of the next 25 years for both the country and also for ICRISAT, Modi stressed the need for new goals and working for them. He lauded ICRISAT for its contribution in helping agriculture in large parts of the world, including India.

Talking about climate change, he said the worst affected by climate change were the people on the last rung of development with little resources. This was the reason why, he said, he had reiterated India’s request to the world to pay special attention to climate change.

Referring to 15 agro-climatic zones and six seasons of the country, Modi highlighted the depth of ancient experience of Indian agriculture. He pointed out that India’s focus was on the fusion of ‘back to basic’ and ‘march to future’ to protect its farmers from climate challenges. “Our focus is on our more than 80 per cent farmers who are small and need us the most.”

He mentioned another dimension of changing India i.e. digital agriculture which he termed as India’s future and stressed that talented Indian youth could contribute a great deal in this. He listed areas like crop assessment, land records digitisation, spraying insecticides and nutrients by drones which were witnessing increased use of technology and artificial intelligence. “India’s efforts are increasing relentlessly for empowering farmers through digital technology”, he said.

The PM emphasised that in the Amrit Kaal, India was focussing on inclusive growth along with higher agriculture growth. Women in the agri-sector were being supported through self-help groups. “Agriculture has the potential to take a large chunk of the population out of poverty and take it towards a better life-style. This Amrit Kaal will also provide new means to the farmers of geographically difficult areas”, he said.

He said that India was working on a dual strategy. On the one hand, a large part of the land was being brought under irrigation through water conservation and connecting of rivers. On the other hand, water use efficiency through micro irrigation was being encouraged in areas with limited irrigation.