Haryana to organize 2nd Agri Summit in Surajkund from 18-20 March

Surajkund (Faridabad), March 14- Faced with new challenges in agriculture sector, the Haryana Government  has initiated the process to prepare the farmers to adopt new concepts like Peri-urban agriculture, Climate–smart agriculture and give impetus to adoption of organic farming and micro irrigation, besides marketing and branding of agricultural products.

          The Haryana Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister, Mr O.P.Dhankar, who was addressing a press conference here today said that the 2nd Agri-leadership Summit being organized at Surajkund from March 18 to 20, 2017 would provide an apt platform to focus on issues like increasing of farmer’s income, soil health, dairying and marketing of A2 Milk, aquaculture and promoting  agro industries. In the Summit fresh farm products would be available on sale, direct from the growers, that is, the farmers to the consumers.   

          The Minister emphasized the need to have  an effective chain right from cultivation to packing, branding and marketing  and quoted an example saying that  in case of sale of potato chips, the farmer is ignored whereas being a grower of potatoes, he should also be an important factor in this chain. The Government can be a facilitator to purchase the produce, adding that it fixes the Minimum Support Price(MSP) to save the farmers from suffering losses.

          He said that   there were progressive farmers who not only cultivate crops but have also formed their own brands for their agro products and are also engaged in their marketing. Such farmers  being real agri-leaders have been invited to the summit to inspire their other brethren .
          The Minister said that the first day of summit will be dedicated to increasing milk production. Haryana is next to Gujarat and Punjab, but the government feels that  Haryana has potential to do better and the gap is not big, it can excel in this field by promoting dairy farming as a profession and adopting some new means. In order to promote opening of dairying, he said that the interest on the loan amount of farmers who opt to take up dairying of upto 50 buffaloes or cows, will be paid by the government and they were required to pay only the principle amount borrowed from the bank.

He said that the second day of the Summit would be focused on Peri-Urban Agriculture’.  “The State Government is following the concept of Peri-urban agriculture as he had seen in Beijing ,where farmers do cultivation to meet the needs of adjoining cities”, said Mr Dhankhar. Agricultural products being perishable have a short life, wheat can be brought from far away places, so why to grow wheat in periphery of national capital Delhi. Therefore, the farmers of Haryana must cultivate need based crops in the areas situated adjoining to cities. Emphasis is being laid on bringing 25 per cent of the cultivable area under horticulture, Mr Dhankhar said and added that a flower mandi was also proposed to be developed in district Gurugram. He said that every district would have an Excellence Centre and an amount  of Rs 517 crore has been earmarked for this purpose in the current budget estimates.

The third day of the Summit will be dedicated to the concept of  ‘Climate Smart Agriculture and Risk Management, which is need of the hour. According to Mr Dhankhar, during the last two years the government gave an amount of Rs 2200 crore as compensation to the farmers for losses to their crops due to bad weather conditions. 
  He said that the State Government is keen convert  340 villages into ‘Horticulture Villages’ and every district will have a Excellence Centre. He said that in changing times, there is need  to promote processing units using agri products and a mandi of frozen products so as to facilitate the sale of agro products in off season.

          In reply to a question concerning the first  Agri-leadership Summit organized by Haryana, he said that it was visited by about one lakh farmers and hoped that the second summit would attract more farmers than that. He said that the second Summit will be inaugurated by  Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh while Union Minister for Agriculture Radha Mohan Singh and Union Minister Krishan Pal Gujjar would also be present. On the second day, Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal would be chief guest while he Governor, Prof. Kaptan Singh Solanki would grace the concluding function. On all three days, the main program will be from 11.00 AM to 1.00 PM and the seminars will be organized in four different Seminar Halls. The Summit will be attended many other prominent personalities including Union Ministers have also been invited to grace the occasion.

Coining a parody on the saying of Deen Bandhu Sir Chhotu Ram, champion of farmers' cause who had said that ‘e bhole kisaan to bolna seekh le and dusman to pehchan le’, Mr Dhankhar said, “ e bhole kisaan tu bechna seekh le, tu bazaar ko pehchan le.”( asking the farmers to learn the technique of marketing their products by analyzing the trends of the market).

CPS Mrs Seema Trikha, Mayor of Faridabad and Deputy Commissioner Sameerpal Srow were also present alongwith other dignitaries.