Thanking Sharad Pawar, PM Modi calls for modernising agriculture

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called for the modernising of agricultural techniques across the country, thanking Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar for his contribution to the sector.

"We have to modernise agriculture and join it with technology. The Agro-tech sector needs to be given importance. Increasing agriculture production is important and in this matter, we can learn from traditional practices as well as modern, innovative techniques," the Prime Minister said, during the foundation-laying ceremony of the Centre of Excellence for Vegetable Production here.

"I want to thank Sharad ji for his contribution. We have different ideologies but we both want growth of the nation. He is an experienced and helpful leader who has always come forward to help me," he added.

Prime Minister Modi also called for the conservation of water, calling it the 'philosopher's stone' that helps extract gold from the earth.

"We must use irrigation techniques like drip irrigation and sprinklers in order to conserve water. At present, there is too much wastage of water in our system," he said.

"I don't know if the 'paras pathar' [philosopher's stone] turns metal to gold, but water is the tool that enables one to yield gold from the earth. Thus, the conservation of water is essential," he added.