Changing the crop pattern, reduction of input cost and increase in productivity were vital for improving the agriculture scenario, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said here today.
Gadkari, who is 'chief patron' of Agrovision, an annual agricultural exhibition, was speaking at the conclusion of the event.
The minimum support prices of farm products were not going to increase much as they were linked to global prices, and therefore the farmers must think of changing crop patterns, reducing input cost and increasing the productivity for profitable agriculture, the Union Road Transport Minister said.
Over five lakh people visited the exhibition during the last four days and some 60,000 farmers participated in various workshops during the exhibition, the organisers said.
Gadkari advised the farmers to switch to oil seeds, pulses and maize from the conventional crops, avoid use of fertilisers and adopt organic farming methods.
Maharashtra Energy minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule, who was the chief guest, listed various decisions of BJP-led state government for the farmers in power sector.
Under Atal solar agriculture pump scheme, 10,000 pumps, each costing Rs 5 lakh, would be distributed to farmers for Rs 20,000 each, and if the scheme succeeded, five lakh such pumps would be distributed in five years, he said.
The farmers who pay off electricity bill arrears would be given 50 per cent concession and would be given energy conservation pump, he said.
In 8,000 villages 'agriculture feeder' would be separated so that the village gets 24-hour power, the minister said.
State Water Resources minister Girish Mahajan also spoke on the occasion stressed the need for efficient use of irrigation.
As far as loans were concerned, the minister said a
provision of Rs 9 lakh crore in the priority sector lending was made for agriculture sector only. Crop insurance scheme will also provide relief to farmers, he said.
The minister said drip irrigation was also the need of the hour as dependence on rains was not the solution.
He said Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Odisha are facing water crisis.
Irrigation percentage was the highest in Punjab at over 96 per cent and lowest in Jharkhand at 5.6 per cent.
Unfortunately, the issue of subsidy was opposed by bureaucracy earlier, he said adding that a meagre budget by the UPA government for agriculture was also responsible for the problem.
Instead of spending a huge Rs 70,000 crore to buy aircraft, the previous regime could have taken steps to ensure water availability in villages and that could have prevented farmers' suicide, Gadkari said.
He also rued that while a small state like Telangana had set aside over Rs 27,000 crore for irrigation, Maharashtra has earmarked only over Rs 8,000 crore.
Stressing the need for wide-scale cash crop cultivation in the country to augment economy, the minister said trial of cultivating olive in Rajasthan has been successful and should be done at a large-scale.
He also advocated for pulses cultivation across the country instead of conventional crops like wheat and paddy to improve the condition of farmers.
This will result in huge savings on edible oil imports as India imports edible oil worth Rs 1.3 lakh crore, he said.
Besides, he stressed the need for cross breeding of certain varieties of cows like Sahiwal and Gir which were popular in Brazil, to enhance milk production.
Farmers could also take to sericulture, the minister said, and added that second generation ethanol production was also being encouraged besides bamboo cultivation, fisheries and honey production.
Ethanol production could cut on huge crude oil import bill which is to the tune of Rs 8 lakh crore, he said.
Also, he said after declaration of 111 national waterways, his ministry was committed to deepen the draft in rivers so that not only trade and industry gets a boost but also the rain water could be absorbed.
He said the budget for these rivers has only been Rs 18,000 crore but Rs one lakh crore worth of work would be done as the funds could easily be generated.
At present, he said, 70 per cent of the water went to sea while remaining 10-15 per cent went to lakes and dams leaving only about 15 per cent water for conservation.
At the same time he said India would be able to save Rs 45,000 crore per annum on urea if it sets up a plant at Chabahar in Iran, negotiations for which are on to get gas on lower price.
Iran, Gadkari said, has cheap natural gas and talks are on to get gas at less than USD 2 per mmBtu.
