9th Agriculture Leadership Conclave 2019 Kicks Off

New Delhi: Ninth Agriculture Leadership Conclave 2019 kicked off in New Delhi today. Agriculture Today Group President Dr M J Khan addressing the 9th Agriculture Leadership Conclave 2019 said 'Agriculture Today', a premier agriculture monthly led by Agriculture Today Group, has been the voice of farmers for the last many years. The Group also was instrumental in organising such events where all the stakeholders could be brought to one platform to deliberate upon.

The Group President said he and his organisation Indian Council of Food and Agriculture (ICFA) has been instrumental in various government policy formulation regarding agriculture and allied sectors for the last few years. Farmer+ project was also launched under the recommendation of ICFA, he observed.

Dr MJ Khan, Chairman, Indian Council of Food & Agriculture said: "We should create an ecosystem where Production, Market, Value Addition, Exports - all to be taken into consideration. Also, we need to concentrate on post production policy."

Dr Ashok Dalwai, CEO, NRAA speaking on the occasion said: "We need to bring climate change into consideration. Also, there is a need to look at farm produce from farmers gate to exports."

"Food security has become basic demand or we say need of the hour. We need to redefine marketing and re-mandate agriculture," Dr Dalwai noted.

"We cannot tie farmers to food security, otherwise farmers won't get benefit out of it. How climate change can be mitigated and agricultural can be made a win-win venture," Dr Dalwai, who is the Chairman of Task Force on Doubling Farmers Income, added.

Dr Srikanta K Panigrahi, DG, Indian Institute of Sustainable Development, said: "We need to look into sustainable agriculture so that country's food security can be secured."

Dr Douglas Ry Wagner, President, International Agribusiness, AlgaEnergy, Spainalso spoke on sustainable agriculture and said this can only preserve food security. Agriculture Today Yearbook was also launched on this occasion.

Prof Panjab Singh, President, National Academy of Agriculture Sciences (NAAS) said the major challenge before the country is to feed 1.7 billion people. Science needs to find solutions for futuristic agriculture and create jobs outside agriculture within the village only, Prof Singh added.

A few other sessions on 'Fostering Farmer-Industry Partnership for Agrarian Prosperity' and 'Role of States and Institutions in Transforming Agriculture' were held during the Conclave.

Asitava Sen, CEO, CropLife India said: "We need to identify few strategic crops where India has advantage, and by building strategy and partnership we can achieve good result and success."

CropLife India is engaged in many activities so that farmers get best in class produce at the right time. "How India can adopt international experiences that we also need to look at," Mr Sen noted.