MoS (Agriculture) Shri Kailash Choudhary says at least 25% of farming should take place on Organic and Natural Farming techniques

The three-day (02-04^th March, 2023) long Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela with the theme of 'Nutritional, Food and Environmental security through Millets (Shree Anna)', organized at the sprawling campus of ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, concluded today. Shri Kailash Choudhary, Union Minister of State Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister was the chief guest at the Valedictory Ceremony.

Dr Ashok Kumar Singh, Director, ICAR-IARI welcomed the chief guest and other dignitaries. Six Fellow farmers and 42 Innovative farmers with 'IARI Innovative Farmer Award', including women farmers, were felicitated during the function.

In his address, Shri Kailash Choudhary India's farm output jumped from 265 Million Tonnes in 2013-14 to 315 MT last year and is set to touch 324 MT this Financial Year. He said the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has aimed for four stages of farmers welfare, namely Superior Quality Seeds, Reduce Working Costs, Improve Storage & Transportation, and enable Markets, - provide remunerative prices for farmers' produce.

Shri Choudhary said the Agriculture Ministry has asked ICAR to ensure at least 25% of farming on Agricultural land is held on Organic and Natural Farming techniques. He emphasized on the need to work for the development of varieties of millets for nutritional security. He reiterated the central role of new and innovative farm technologies food and environmental security. He said modern technologies and crop varieties must reach to the farmers without any time lag and must be demonstrated on farmers' fields for winning the confidence of farmers.

Shri Choudhary said the government is working towards increasing the use of technology in Agriculture under various schemes like Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Soil Health Card Scheme, Organic Agriculture and Traditional Agriculture Development Scheme (Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana), aiming for increasing the income of the small and marginal farmers.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Himanshu Pathak, Secretary, DARE & Director General, ICAR announced that each ICAR Institute will conduct a training programme annually for the benefit of farmers. Pragati (Progress) and Prakriti (Nature) have to go together, - hand in hand, he said. Dr Pathak said Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who visited ICAR-IARI recently spending about two hours at the Pusa Campus, has tweeted that India's agricultural research center is the No.1 in the world.

Large number of farmers from across the country visited the Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela-2023 and benefited from live demonstration of climate resilient varieties of wheat, mustard, lentil, chickpea, vegetables, flowers and fruit crops and also gained useful and advance knowledge of integrated farming system model. Dr Rabindra Nath Padaria, Joint Director (Extension), Dr JPS Dabaas, In-charge, CATAT, ICAR-IARI and other dignitaries were also present during valedictory ceremony.

The mega event was organized by ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute. Several institutes of ICAR across the country participated and special exhibitions on Millets (Shree Anna), farmer friendly technologies, innovations and products were displayed during the three-day mega farmers' fair.

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