excellencies ladies and
gentlemen namaskaar i welcome
you all to india agriculture is
at the heart
of human civilization and so
as agriculture ministers your
task is not
simply that of handling one
sector of the economy
you shoulder a
big responsibility for the
future of humanity globally agriculture
provides livelihood
for over
two point five billion people in the
global south agriculture accounts
for almost thirty percent
of gdp and over
sixty percent of jobs
and today this sector
faces several challenges
the supply
chain disruption caused by
the pandemic have been worsened by
the impact of geo political tensions
climate change
is causing extreme weather
events more and more
frequently these challenges
are failed most by
the global south friends i
want to share with you but
india is doing in this
most vital sector our policy
is a fusion of back
to basics and march
to future we are
promoting natural farming as well
as technology enabled farming
farmers all over
india are taking up natural
farming now they are
not using synthetic fertilizer or
pesticides there focus
is on rejuvenating the mother
earth protecting soil health
producing power drop
markov and promoting
organic fertilizers and
paste management solutions at
the same time our
farmers are proactively
using technology to
boost productivity they
are generating and using
solar power on their
farms they are using soil health
curves to optimise crop selection
and drones to spray nutrients
and monitor their
crops i believe this
fusion approach is the
best way to address several issues in
agriculture friends as
you know the year
twenty twenty three is being
celebrated at the international year of
millets you will
find are reflection of this
on your plates in hyderabad
with many disease based on
millets or sri anna as we
call it in india this super foods are
not only healthy to
consume but they
also help raise the income
of our farmers by using
less water needing less
fertilizer and being more
paste resistant aap course
millets are not new they have
been cultivated for thousands of years
but markets and
marketing had influence our
choices so much that we
forgot the value of traditionally grown food
crops let us
embrace sri and millets at the
four of our choice as part
of our own commitment india is
developing n institute of
millets research as a
senter of excellence for sharing based practices
research and technology
in millets friends i
urge you to deliberate
on how to undertake collective action
to achieve global food security
we must find
ways to build sustainable and
inclusive food systems
focus on marginal farmers
we must find ways
to strengthen global fertiliser
supply chains at the
same time adopt agricultural practices
for better soil health crowfield
and yield traditional practices
from different parts of the world main inspire
us to develop alternative for regenerative
agriculture we need
to empower our farmers with innovation
and digital technology we must
also make solutions affordable for small
and marginal farmers in the
global south there is also an urgent
need to reduce agriculture and food
based and instead invest in
creating wealth from waste friends india
g twenty priorities
in agriculture focus on healing our
banner earth creating harmony
within urban family and giving
hope for a bright one future i am
happy to learn that you are
working on two concrete outcomes that that
can high level principles of food security and nutrition
and the maharshi initiative for
millets and other grains the
support to these two initiatives
is a statement in support
for inclusive sustainable and resilient
agriculture i wish you all
success in your deliberations thank
you