New Delhi: The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW) is organizing a National Conference under the title of “Agriculture 2022 – Doubling Farmers’ Income” at National Agriculture Science Complex (NASC), Pusa, New Delhi. It is a two days conference scheduled on 19th and 20th February, 2018. The Conference is being organized on the advice of the Hon’ble Prime Minister with a view to identify various critical issues relating to agriculture and farmers’ welfare and finding appropriate solutions. The main aim of the conference is to build a consensus around appropriate recommendations that will help in shaping and sharpening the vision of the Government on Doubling Farmers’ Income by 2022 into actionable points. The idea is to arrive at practicable solutions that can be implemented for the benefit of farmers in the country. Government is keen to find and adopt the suggestions of the participants that will help in yielding quick results across the agricultural sector, comprising several sub-sectors in addition to initiating long term interventions. The focus would be on the human element of this primary sector, i.e., the farmer. It shall be farming for the farmer.
As many as seven broad themes have been identified for the conference and some of these also have sub-themes (Annexure-I). The participants comprising farmers, farmers’ associations, scientists, economists, academics, trade industry, professional associations, NGOs, policy makers and officers have been assigned to different themes and sub-themes, such that the issues are examined from multiple angles and comprehensive recommendations are made. Senior officers leading various domains including agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, dairying & fisheries, marketing, & cooperation have been invited as their appreciation of the field will be important in harmonising National and State level policies and programmes. It is also expected that an implementation strategy as well as outcomes arising from these suggestions would be defined and reconciled into the Government’s Strategy for Doubling Farmers’ Income by 2022 on which the Inter-Ministerial Committee is finalising its strategy.
On the first day, the conference will be attended by several dignitaries such as the Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Governor of Himachal Pradesh, Vice Chairman NITI Aayog, Ministers of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Member (Agriculture) NITI Aayog, etc. After a brief opening session, technical sessions will begin. The technical sessions will consist of a presentation by Member (Agriculture) NITI Aayog who will set the context, followed by those of the Joint Secretaries in the Ministry regarding their respective schemes.
On the second day i.e. 20th February 2018, the groups for each theme will finalise their presentations and recommendations by lunch time and make their presentations in the final section that will begin from 4.30 p.m. in the presence of the Hon’ble Prime Minister.
The Governor of Himachal Pradesh Shri Acharya Devvrat, who has a passion for agriculture has consented to be at the Conference and guide the deliberations through both the days.
The select participants numbering about 300 have been invited from across the country with varied background, and are expected to bring to the table their domain experience and expertise. In order to make the deliberations comprehensive and productive, the Ministry has facilitated the following:
- The participants assigned to each theme constitute a random mix, and each is led by a Coordinator (from outside the Governments) and supported by a Facilitator, who is a Joint Secretary in the Ministry.
- All the participants have been provided with background material on all the themes prepared by reputed institutions/organisations.
- A handbook consisting of various schemes, programmes and missions of the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, as also of other Ministries/Departments that support the agriculture sector have been prepared for the benefit of the participants.
- More importantly, the Facilitators have enabled a month-long pre-workshop deliberations using electronic platforms – emails, WhatsApp Groups etc. Some of the theme Coordinators have also been conducting physical meetings.
The Hon’ble Prime Minister has kindly agreed to join the Conference in the last session on 20th February and hear all the presentations. Thereafter, he will be sharing his vision and insights on agricultural development and farmers’ welfare.
The Ministry is also inviting various Union Ministers to seek their advice and guidance. In fact, the Ministry has already had the benefit of advice from the Vice-President, Union Minister for Home, Road Transport & Highways and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and the Governor of Himachal Pradesh. The Ministry had elaborate discussions with theme on the issues of farmers in the country.
It is expected that the Ministry of Agriculture will benefit from valuable inputs that will emerge from the Conference, being organised under the guidance of Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Radha Mohan Singh and the Ministers of State Shri Parshottam Rupala, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Smt. Krishna Raj.
