Attracting young talent into agri will drive future growth: Niranjan Reddy

Hyderabad: The 3rd edition of Agri Tech South, a conference and exhibition was inaugurated on Wednesday at Prof. Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University (PJTSAU), here by Niranjan Reddy, Minister for Agriculture, Government of Telangana. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has been organising Agri Tech South Summit & Expo- An exclusive initiative to promote agriculture, food processing and its allied sectors in South for the last three years.

While delivering the inaugural address at the conference, Niranjan said that during Kharif and rabi seasons put together Telangana has produced more than 3 crore MT (metric ton) paddy which is a record production. Earlier Punjab and Haryana were considered to be food supplier States in India now Telangana has also joined the league. The State government with its proactive measures such as Rythu Bandu and Rythu Bima schemes, ensuring irrigation of more than one crore acres and providing regular power supply is able to register high growth in agriculture sector. 21 percent of GSDP contribution is coming from Agriculture sector which is a remarkable progress. The current challenges in Agriculture sector are increased input cost and need for increasing higher productivity in the farm sector. Second largest cultivated land is in India and to feed 140 crore people in the country, we and the sector need to attract more young talent to drive the future growth and only then we can replicate similar kind growth in Agriculture sector as achieved in IT Sector.

Dr Praveen Rao, Vice Chancellor, PJTSAU said that agriculture canvas across the country is changing rapidly. Especially technology revolution is playing a major role in this positive change which will ensure food security. Simultaneously fertiliser usage has also gone up drastically. Earlier only 5-6 varieties were being produced in Telangana, now many varieties are being produced. Data driven agriculture and crop diversification are going to play a major role in future and key drivers being Science, Technology and Innovation.

Anil Kumar, Chairman, CII SR-Agriculture, Food Processing & Animal Husbandry Subcommittee said that the need for good agriculture practices in Indian agriculture is well recognised and accepted, and efforts have also been made on several fronts towards digitising the existing value chain. Given the importance of agriculture in India, both the government and private players are working to improve the efficiency and productivity of Indian agriculture and exploring how Farming as a Service (FaaS) solutions can play a role. The end goal is to benefit the farmers, especially the small farmers, to reap the benefits of transformational innovation in agriculture, and for the industry to develop a more robust tech-enabled value chain.