Government Committed to Promoting Organic Farming: Union Agriculture Minister

USPA NEWS - The Union Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Radha Mohan Singh underlined the importance of water security and organic farming for improving soil health and better quality of crops in his address at the 4th Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Agriculture in Brasilia, Brazil.

Union Agriculture Minister, Mr. Radha Mohan Singh, said that the Government is committed to promote Organic Farming that improves soil health and leads to better quality crops. From the current financial year, “˜Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana´, a new scheme to develop organic clusters and make available chemical free inputs to farmers will be implemented. He also referred about the Gokul Mission, a dedicated intervention to improve cattle progeny so as to improve milk yields and farmers income. The Minister said it during his participation in 4th Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Agriculture and Agrarian Development in Brasilia, Brazil on March 13.

Mr. Singh said that a significant part of India is still under rain-fed agriculture which is characterized by low levels of productivity and low input usage. Vagaries of the monsoon result in wide variation and instability in yields. However, if managed properly, the rain-fed areas have the potential to contribute a lot in food grain production, he said.

National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture

On this occasion, Mr. Singh said that to counter the adverse effects of climate change and the vagaries of nature, India has undertaken a National Action Plan on Climate Change. Another initiative in the direction is National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture which seeks to transform Indian Agriculture into a climate resilient production system through suitable adaptation and mitigation measures such as promoting location specific integrated/ composite farming systems, soil and moisture conservation measures, comprehensive soil health management, efficient water management practices and mainstreaming of rain-fed technologies, he said.

Per drop- More crop

Mr. Singh said that the Government of India is committed to giving top priority to water security. In this context, he referred to the “˜Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana´ with the motto of water to every farm “˜Har Khet Ko Paani´. He mentioned that the “˜Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana´ aims at providing end-to-end solutions in irrigation supply chain, viz, water sources, distribution network and farm level applications.

He said that “˜Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana´ will not only focus on creating sources for assured irrigation, but also creating protective irrigation by harnessing rain water at micro level. Micro irrigation will be popularized to ensure “˜Per drop- More crop´, he said.

Mr. Singh said that ample scope exists for cooperation among BRICS countries in the areas of productivity enhancement in horticulture crops, exchange of processable varieties and development of cold chain facilities.