 "Modi's mega krishi mela may be replicated nationally")
In a move purportedly to resurrect its falling image in rural India, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is planning a mega farmers’ fair in Delhi to propagate its pro-farmer policies.
The fair, expected to be attended by 100,000 farmers, is planned on the lines of similar fairs held in Gujarat when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister of the state. It could be held sometime before Holi, which falls on March 22.
According to officials, the event is likely to be attended by ministers from all farms-related departments. Invites would also be sent to all chief ministers, they added.
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During his stint as Gujarat CM, Modi used to organise a highly successful Krishi Mahotsav every year, from 2005 onwards.
Earlier, the fairs used to be single-day affairs. Later, their scale and duration expanded. In annual presentations made to then Planning Commission, Modi, as chief minister of Gujarat, had claimed the kisan melas helped the state in achieving impressive growth in agriculture and allied activities.
He had said Gujarat’s total agricultural production (including animal husbandry and horticultural) rose from Rs 18,104 crore in 2002-03 to Rs 49,036 crore in 2007-08, thanks to the fair. The fair had similarly helped raise the state’s milk production, he had said. It also helped in bridging the distance between agriculture scientists and farmers.
“Something similar is being planned on a national scale wherein agriculture scientists and others will apprise the farmers of the Centre’s initiatives for them,” said an official.
The fair is expected to be inaugurated by Modi. Officials said in the run-up to the mega farmer’s fair in Delhi, the agriculture ministry would hold seminars and discussions on all the agriculture-related flagship programmes of the Modi government — soil health card, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, Fasal Bima Yojana, blue revolution, etc.
The fair is expected to be organised at Indian Agriculture Research Institute grounds and could have 500 stalls, reflecting the entire gamut of agriculture value-chain and input providers including seed manufacturers, and fertiliser and farm equipment manufacturers right up to the food processing sector.
India’s agriculture and allied sector grew at an unimpressive 0.45 per cent in the first two years of the NDA government, which was lower than the average population growth of 1.3-1.4 per cent because of consecutive droughts and record drop in produce prices.
According to experts, poor farm growth and steady population growth mean per-capita income is falling in rural areas. Around 55 per cent of India’s population inhabits rural areas.
Sources say senior officials from the agriculture department have been entrusted with working out all the details of this mega fair. Former agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, too, during his last days in office, had organised a farmers’ fair (Krishi Basant) in Nagpur in 2014.
The fair, held over a period of five days, was inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee and attended by a large number of farmers, foreign delegates, scientists, students and exhibitors. Around 80 Indian Council of Agricultural Research institutes and 30 Krishi Vigyan Kendras from across the country participated in the fair.
