Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday said contribution of the farming community will be instrumental in making India a USD 5 trillion economy as envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of 9th Agri Asia Exhibition and 7th Dairy, Livestock and Poultry Expo at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, a Gujarat government release informed.
Referring to the Centre's resolve to double farmers' income, Tomar advised them to focus more on increasing their income rather than increasing crop yield.
The minister said, in addition to cultivating crops, farmers should focus on allied activities, like cattle rearing, beekeeping and horticulture to increase their income, a PIB release stated.
In his address, Tomar said the Centre as well as the state government need to hold discussions with the cooperative sector to find ways of increasing farmers' income, the PIB release added.
He said the Centre had almost doubled the budget for agriculture, asserting India would become self reliant in food production on the back of innovations in the agriculture sector and farmers' hard work, said the release.