Develop technologies for farmers, minister tells scientists

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Union Minister Kailash Choudhary on November 23 urged scientists to come up with innovative technologies to help farmers and emphasised on developing the organic farming in the north-east region. He also said the agriculture sector will have to play a "very important role" to achieve $5-trillion economy target by 2024-25.

Addressing the two-day ICAR-24th Regional Committee Meeting for Zone-III here, Choudhary, who is union minister of state for agriculture and farmers' welfare, said, "Scientists should come up with innovative technologies which benefit the farmers."

He emphasised on developing the organic farming in the north-east region, eliminating harmful fertilisers and pesticide usages which have alarmingly increased the health hazards among people of the country.

He also urged researchers to focus on developing technologies to empower farmers for organic farming.

Assam's agriculture and food processing minister Atul Bora said the state government has focused on maximum utilisation of the resources available.

Dr. T Mohapatra, secretary of the department of agricultural research and education, urged the participants in the meeting to stress on the strength of the agricultural sector and to use the resources of the region for maximum benefits.

The regional committee comprises seven northeastern states and Sikkim to provide a forum to researchers and the state governments' functionaries to examine the major gaps in the current research and training efforts in the farming sector.

Apart from production, post-harvest management, processing and marketing should be an integral part of the research activities, said Mohapatra who is also director general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

ICAR has set up eight regional committees on the basis of agro-climatic regions.