sixth agriculture leadership summit 2013agriculturetoday.in/img/summit 2013/summit 2013.pdfsixth...

AGRICULTURE TODAY October 201320

Sixth Agriculture leAderShip Summit 2013

COVERFEATURE Leadership Summit 2013

Sixth Agriculture

AGRICULTURE TODAYOctober 2013 21

Agriculture provides gainful employment and livelihood for majority of India’s pop-ulation and contributes significantly to the bas-

ket of national income. India, in recent years, has seen a massive grass root level movement in agriculture, further catalyzed by the collaborative efforts of agri – entrepreneurs, NGOs, Industry and government, bringing revolutionary transformation to the farming sector. ‘Trade, Technology and Food Security’ are the major driving forces of Indian economy and hence it becomes all the more pertinent to rethink on these is-sues and reach a consensus to promote

the most eminent persons in Indian ag-riculture, representing different facets of Indian agriculture, introducing many new concepts and initiatives and also identifying several areas of concern to Indian farming. The year book, a good addendum to the event, strikes a right balance with combination of data, analysis and information.

The efforts of different entities cutting across the sector were appre-ciated for their untiring efforts in fur-thering the interest of the farmers and farming profession. Their efforts were honoured with agriculture leadership awards.

Sixth Agriculture leAderShip Summit 2013accelerated growth.

Agriculture Today Group has al-ways raised concern pertaining to farm-ers, agri-economy and various global challenges faced by this sector. Tak-ing ahead these initiatives, a two day Agriculture Leadership Summit 2013 was organized by the group along the lines of its previous such endeavours. The sixth Agriculture Leadership Sum-mit on Trade,Technology and Food Security was organized on 19-20 September,2013 at Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi by Agriculture Today in col-laboration with ICAR, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, National Horticulture Board, National Horticulture Mission, Mon-santo, CWC, State participations from Gujarat, Punjab and Sikkim and several other organizations. Over 500 national and international delegates including corporate officials, scientists, govern-ment officials, policy makers and am-bassadors of various countries partici-pated in the event.

During the summit, Agriculture Year Book 2013’was launched, which features articles penned by the some of

“National food security can be achieved only through development of farmers”The inaugural session of the summit was graced by Prof. MS Swaminathan, Chairman, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Dr. Islam Sid-diqui, US Chief Agriculture Negotiator, Dr. Jimmy Smith, Director General, ILRI and Dr.MJ Khan, President of Agricul-ture Today Group.

Welcoming the guests, Dr. MJ Khan said that the theme of the 6th Summit “trade, technology and food security” is very relevant as with the increasing glo-balization, the approach to agriculture

Inaugural session was graced by Prof. MS Swa-minathan, Chair-man, M S Swami-nathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Dr. Is-lam Siddiqui, US Chief Agriculture Negotiator, Dr. Jimmy Smith, Director General, ILRI and Dr. MJ Khan, President of Agriculture Today Group


Sixth Agriculture


has to be taken with global bench-marks and developments. A deeper understanding of global trade dy-namics is critical not only to explore market opportunities and take India globally, but also to meet the chal-lenges of our own food security act. Unless there is free flow of agricul-tural produce, the global food secu-

rity concerns cannot be addressed. Dr. Khan also called upon the policy makers and the scientific communi-ty to take final call on GM crops.

Hon’ble Minister of Textiles, Mr. K.S. Rao, the chief guest, raised var-ious important issues in his address. He pointed out that the disparity between the input cost and output received by the farmers through ag-riculture is resulting in depletion of productivity and is a major concern for farmer’s poor condition. It is im-portant to instigate a force for revo-lutionising the agriculture sector to raise the farmer’s living standards. He opined that public- private part-nership can play an important role in this.

Chairman of MSSRF, Prof. M.S. Swaminathan, emphasized on the malaise of hunger and malnutrition that is prevailing in India. He identi-fied four types of hunger – Calorie hunger, Malnutrition Hunger, Protein Hunger and Hidden hunger like iron deficiency. Food security bill, the world’s largest social protection act against hunger, made an important part of his address. The father of the green revolution had also a clear vision to sustain India’s production

levels for the future. “Losses dur-ing production are more in develop-ing countries like ours and wastage during consumption is more in de-veloped nations; it is important to mitigate these losses to achieve sustainable levels of production and productivity. There has been a nine fold increase in wheat produc-tion in past nine years. The target is to achieve 150 million tonnes of wheat production by the year 2030. The strategy should be based upon awareness, analysis and action for doing the right thing. Value addi-tion to the biomass can be a major initiative for utilising available re-sources. National food security can be achieved only through the devel-opment of farmers as they are the

Sitting from (L to R) Dr. MJ Khan, President, Agriculture Today Group, Ambassador Islam Siddiqui, US Chief Agriculture Negotiator, Mr. KS Rao, Union Cabinet Minister for Textiles, world renowned scientist Prof. MS Swaminathan, Pioneer of India’s Green Revolution and Dr. Jimmy Smith, DG, International Livestock Research Institute


Sixth Agriculture


producers”, he underlined.When it comes to adoption of technologies in

agriculture, India never measured upto its peers. Lack of awareness regarding the effectiveness of improved technologies among policy makers is the reason behind this unfortunate situation. US Chief Negotiator, Dr. Islam Siddiqui also stressed on raising the level of awareness and understanding among the policy makers and de-cision makers. “India is contributing only 10 per cent to the global trade in terms of export; to in-crease this amount we need to gear up through utilisation of technologies like genetic improve-ment, drought resistant crop varieties and many more” suggested Dr. Siddiqui.

When the food production does not measure up to spiralling population, price rise and food riots occur. Reiterating the fact that by 2050 the food demand will grow by 68 per cent in propor-tion to the population, Director General of ILRI, Dr. Jimmy Smith stated that,“Spectacular crisis

Sitting from (L to R) Dr. Purvi Mehta, Director Asia, ILRI, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, MP and former Union Minister, Prof. MS Swamiinathan and Dr. SK Goel, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Maharashtra

have been observed in the past, and if we do not plan according to the current scenario, keep-ing in mind the demand and supply crisis which might occur in future, then we may face severe food price riots. India is doing fairly well in some commodities like it is the number one in milk production and wheat exports. Small farmers are the backbone of the system. Productivity should be increased in an eco-friendly manner”.

“Agriculture cannot wait and it requires immediate actions”Agriculture policies have always influenced the performance of agri sector. Through policy inter-ventions many problems that Indian agriculture is facing today can be addressed. The policy ses-sion which was led by Hon’ble MP and former Union Minister, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, saw discussions that centred around different policy initiatives that can incite a positive change in agriculture. Shri Joshi pointed out that imple-


Sixth Agriculture


mentation of organic farming prac-tices and bio pesticides will improve the health of soil which is depleting day by day and is a major issue im-pacting the productivity adversely. Besides soil health, our biodiversity is also under threat from farmers’ dependence on single seed. He em-phasised, “seeds should not go in hands of foreign countries for re-search purposes as this may pose danger to our biodiversity”. He urged farmers to use bio pesticides and bio fertilisers,to bring down the import of fertilisers substantially.

Indian agriculture has been see-ing some glorious years on the pro-duction front. But what most of the time defeats even our record food production, is the strained and of-

ten unconnected marketing chan-nels. Advocating public- private partnership, Dr. S.K. Goel, IAS, Ag-riculture Production Commissioner, Maharashtra,reminded of the im-mense opportunity that lies if farm-ers are directly connected with the consumers. “Farmers can form their cooperatives and develop a value chain. Marketing is also a major setback to agriculture in India; intro-duction of agri-marketing, setting up of accredited store houses can help. Liberal tax incentives should be pro-vided on investments and income generated through agri-business”, recommended Dr. Goel.

Livestock is an integral part of Indian agriculture. India is the larg-est milk producer and livestock is an important contributor to national GDP. It is high time that we brought livestock to the mainstream of agri-culture in India for which integrated

system for crop and livestock can be framed. This opinion was voiced by Dr. Purvi Mehta, Asia Director, ILRI.“Conducive yet dynamic poli-cies should be framed and imple-mented. Disparity between input and output of agriculture should be adequately balanced. Linkages be-tween research and policy frame-work should be worked upon. Ani-mal and human health should be monitored closely for better disease surveillance”, she proposed.

Agriculture’s share in GDP is dismal. Efforts must be oriented to-wards increasing the contribution of agriculture to GDP as more than two thirds of the population is dependent on this vocation. Mr. Suresh Prab-hu, former Union Minister believes that it is required to establish rela-tion between all sectors. He shared the example of Maharashtra, where farmers were members of a sugar

Industry session saw participants from indus-

try giants of agriculture

sector


Sixth Agriculture


company and they shared profits. He encour-aged to replicate such innovative models.

“Knowledge, science and technology should work in synchronisation to find a solution”Agriculture has received immense support from industry in supplying improved inputs and better technology. Timely use of inputs- seeds, fertil-izers, pesticides, and infrastructure – has helped farmers to register good yields and income. Mr. M.J. Saxena, MD, Ayurvet Ltd., was of the view that knowledge, science and technology should work in synchronisation to find a solution to many of the problems faced by agriculture. La-bour unavailability, failure of minimum support price, low returns and other associated risks in agriculture also bothered him. He added that in-

novative ways to utilise animal wastes and gen-erate energy from non-conventional resources can be very useful.

Agri mechanization in the event of labour unavailability assumes more importance. Al-though mechanization hasn’t caught up in a big way beyond India’s granaries, the opportunity it presents to improve the productivity remains un-paralleled. Mr. T.R. Kesavan, TAFE Limited un-derlined the significance of agri mechanization in achieving food sufficiency by overcoming labour unavailability and aiding in water conservation,

Sitting from L to R: Dr. Gary Pomeroi, Director, Magnetic Technologies, Dr. Rajiv Varshney, Research Director, ICRISAT, Prof. KV Thomas, Union Minister of Food, Dr. KL Chadha, Pioneer of India’s Golden Revolution and Mr. Sandeep Saxena, IAS, Agriculture Production Com-missioner, Tamil Nadu


Sixth Agriculture


land conservation and post harvest management of crops.

Biotic and abiotic factors have been a pestering problem for farm-ers since time immemorial. Fortu-nately our industry revisits the plant protection options and provides time appropriate technologies.” Modernisation of agriculture prac-tices should be done to safeguard agricultural produce from various threats posed by climate, pests,

etc.”, said Mr. R.G. Agarwal, Chair-man, Dhanuka Agritech Limited. He also pointed out that Dhanuka had initiated training of dealers in East West area of Andhra Pradesh and have also collaborated with Anand University to increase awareness about the farming practices. He was of the belief that media can educate farmers through launching a channel exclusively addressing the issues re-lated to agriculture.

“technological initiatives are required to usher in second green revolution”It is a well known fact that the yields are stagnating across Indian fields. This points to a saturation limit and we have to break this bar-rier to move ahead to provide for the one billion plus population. Techno-logical initiatives can break this yield block. It was the main focus of the technology session of the summit. The existence of malnutrition and the role to be played by the food se-curity bill in eradicating hunger from Indian society was highlighted by Hon’ble Minister of Food and Con-sumer Affairs Prof K.V. Thomas. He took this occasion to praise the sci-

entific community for their support which has moved India towards food security. He was also quick to point out the paradox, of India being the leading producers of wheat, rice and sugar and India holding 63rd position in malnutrition. He assured that Food security bill will ensure ef-fective procurement, storage, trans-port and distribution of food grains.

India has made some decent achievements in horticulture. In fact, Indian is observing a golden era and this sector has helped India move on from food security to nu-tritional security. Many new variet-ies and techniques are used today which has made horticulture attrac-tive for farmers. Dr. K.L. Chadha, President, Horticulture society and the Father of Modern Horticulture, suggested crop diversification to be made remunerative so that it will be a viable sustainable alternative. “Export share is increasing, and

there is an increase in the demand for Indian produce in global market. Many new varieties of fruits with improved qualities like resistance to bacterial infection, temperature tolerance etc. are being developed. Strengthening horticulture sector will have positive impact on Indian economy”, opined Dr. Chadha.

India has made significant strides in research and development. Dr. Rajiv Varshney, Principal Sci-entist, ICRISAT said that we have made a lot of progress in food suf-ficiency and women empowerment. He mentioned that grain legumes have helped in addressing abiotic stresses and genome sequencing has helped in producing improved crop varieties.

Sometimes to stretch the limits we have to think out of the box. Mr. Garry de la Pomerai, Technical Director, Magnetic Technologies L.L.C. Dubai shared the benefits ob-


Sixth Agriculture


tained through the implementation of magnetic technology such as in-creasing ground water level, increas-ing crop yield by 25 per cent in an eco-friendly way, treating brackish water, improving marine life quality and reducing pathogenic bacteria.

Using this technology issues regard-ing resource management can be addressed to a large extent in India.

Modern agriculture needs back up from information and commu-nication technology. Several such initiatives have been carried out in different parts of India. Mr. Sandeep Saxena, APC, Tamil Nadu cited one such instance, “In Tamil Nadu, ma-jor intervention and productivity im-provements have been achieved by implementing extensive farm level IT extension system like AGRISNET. Farmers form a small group and

work in collaboration to learn new technologies and solve farming re-lated issues. 250 kiosks have been placed as crop doctors to provide immediate response to the farmer’s queries. Online rental booking of farm machinery is also an innova-tive approach”.

“in india farmer is not the part of the framework designed for him”Even as agriculture is facing fresh challenges, farmers who practice the vocation are largely unhappy and not interested in the profession. Practising farmers are moving away, and the new generation are also un-concerned about farming. Many of the participants in the civil society session of the summit echoed simi-lar concerns. Dr. Anis Ansari, Vice Chancellor, KGNUPF University,

former APC said, “Farmers do not want their kids to be farmers when they grow up, this shift is a major threat to this old heritage of agricul-ture practice in India”.

The plight of farmers has been mostly because of the declining pro-ductivity, depleting water table and poor soil health. Mr. K.B. Chowd-hary, President of Bhartiya Krishak-Samaj opined, “Water level is going down at an alarming rate due to the implementation of chemical based model of farming practices. Micro-nutrient deficiency of soil can be re-covered only through green manur-ing and composting. Small cottage

units and financial aids to farmers can improve their living standard and bring back their depleting inter-est in farming practices”.

Sitting from L to R: Mr. Yudhvir Singh, Gen. Secy, Bhartiya Kisan Union, Mr. KB Chowdhary, President Bhartiya Krishak Samaj, Dr. Anis Ansari, Vice Chancel-lor, Sh. Murlidhar Rao, General Secretary, BJP and Sh. OP Dhankad, Head Farmers Cell, BJP


Sixth Agriculture


In the face of resource deple-tion, sustainable agriculture must be given importance. Shri Murlidhar Rao, National Secretary, BJP ex-pressed the concern that without sustainable agriculture, India cannot progress as an economic leader; it is major challenge for policy mak-ers. He was also worried that small land holding farmers will go out of production because farming has be-come costly and complex.

Mr. Om Prakash Dhankad, Head BJP Kisan Cell also highlighted the plight of farmers. He said that farm-ers are disunited and hence facing exploitation. India needs a transpar-ent system for development. Input cost is higher and the outputs are low due to which farmers are strug-gling a lot.

Mr. Yudhvir Singh criticised the policy makers since Indian farmers are not the part of the framework designed for them. “Disparity in the purchasing power is the major chal-lenge and not the production. These days chemical fertilizers are consid-ered as the ‘magic wand’ which can enhance productivity and irrigation when the other side is being ne-glected”, complained Mr. Singh.

“parliament of Farmers”The summit had representation from political side who also took time to represent the woes of the sector. Dr. R.K. Kusumaria, Hon’ble Agriculture Minister, MP, felt that the 4 per cent budgetary allowance for agriculture was inadequate. Shri Kusumaria supported traditional farming practices and cited the ex-ample of Madhya Pradesh which ex-celled in productivity by 89 per cent in 2012 by implementing traditional farming practices. Today, MP leads in orchards, horticulture, dairy pro-duction etc. He proposed that diver-sifying crop to dairy can supplement farmers’ income.

Shri Purshottam Rupala, MP, Rajya Sabha was also not happy with the plight of farmers. He advo-cated that farmers should be given the right to fix the prices for their

produce. “Farmers are the fathers of crops and they are not provided adequate rights to safeguard their interests. Policies are formed by the people who rarely have the real pre-view about agriculture and thus the policies are of no use for farmers” censured Shri Rupala.

Shri Prakash Javdekar, MP, Ra-jya Sabha was quite impressed by


Sixth Agriculture


the summit and her referred it as ‘Parliament of Farmers’. According to him investments for improving productivity, employment opportu-nities and agri-business should be made with no delays.

capturing the issues, challenges and concerns from the states Agriculture is a state subject and they have their set of challenges and concerns. At the same time, they offer instances and success stories that can be replicated else-where. The states session in the summit was enlightening and edu-cational. Dr. A.H. Samoon, Agricul-ture Production Commissioner, J&K initiated the session with his discus-sion about the agriculture scenario in J&K,“J& K, the largest producer of apple, saffron and walnut,has seen a sharp increase in the quan-

tity and quality of production”.He mentioned that J&K farmers are now moving towards enhanced technologies like adoption of cold storage chains, market intelligence and exploration and strengthening the market network.

Mr. Rajan Shukla, IAS, Project Coordinator, UPDASP said,”UP is a transition zone for dietary changes as rice consumption in east Kanpur is high and wheat is consumed more

in west”. He believed that low pro-ductivity and disparity in input and output cost incurred in farming is a major problem area which can be dealt with dissemination of appro-priate technology. He proposed that UPDASP’s crop diversification proj-ect in west UP can be further imple-mented in other areas for improving soil health and thus, production. He said that 76 areas have come un-der over exploited category, and is critical in regards of water level. He urged to take immediate actions to save our country’s vegetation.

Mr. Anant Jawale, Director Ag-riculture of Maharashtra said that state of Maharashtra has imple-mented various information tech-nology based projects like MAHA-GRAPES, HORTSAP, etc. and these

Agriculture Leadership Awards 2013 were presented to eighteen indi-viduals, institutions and states for their excellent performance, which positively impacted the lives of farmers and rural masses.

AwArd ceremoNy


Sixth Agriculture


projects have helped in maintaining the crops at pre and post harvest time. He elaborated that this is used for disease and pest surveillance so that immediate action can be taken with proper information dissemina-

tion to the farmers. Mr. J. S. Sandhu, Agriculture

Commissioner said that food securi-ty bill is a great way to mitigate nu-tritional challenges in Indian society. According to him, BGRI has focused on crop diversification as an answer to the deteriorating health of soil. He reminded that government has allocated Rs. 200 crore to address malnutrition and the major challeng-es in 12th plan are land- increasing crop production, water- drip irriga-tion and micro irrigation can be a substantial way to overcome this problem and labour- Mechanization

of agriculture is an answer.

Accelerated programming Dr. Dinesh, DG, National Coopera-tive Union of India during develop-ment session, while sharing the history of the cooperative devel-opment, explained the Principle of Cooperation and Cooperative Move-ment in India highlighting that Coop-eration is part and parcel of Indian Culture (Vedas and Upanishads). He highlighted the key areas of coop-erative development - Agricultural Marketing, Agricultural Processing, Functional Cooperatives in fields like Dairy, Poultry, Fisheries, Fruits, Vegetables, etc.; Consumer Coop-eratives, Urban Cooperatives, Hous-ing Cooperatives, Tourism Coopera-tives, Oil and Spinning Cooperatives and Women Cooperatives. Mr.Surya

Kumar, DGM enlightened the group regarding the works of NABARD and addressed the questions raised from the audience on the interest rates that NABARD is charging for the banks and the banks that charge the interest charge from the NGOs/self help groups. Dr. Moni, Former DG, National Informatics Center, high-lighted the role of databases and informatics relating to the speech


Sixth Agriculture


of the president of India for creating last mile connectivity, while reflect-ing on the issues raised by Prof. M. S. Swaminathan, Chairman, MSSRF, Chennai( farmer centric approach) , Dr. S. K. Goel, Addl CS (Agri & Mar-keting), Govt. of Maharashtra (End-to-End Value-Chain through conver-gence of Government Scheme, Not enough IT products for Agricultural Sector, Exploiting Opportunities through Agricultural Networks), Shri R G Aggarwal, Chairman, Dhanuka Agritech Ltd (Agri TV Channel), Dr. Rajiv Varshney, ICRISAT (IMOD – Inclusive Market Oriented Devel-opment ), Dr. Poorvi Mehta, ILRI, Director – Asia Region { Linkages between Human Health and Ani-mal Health, as 60 per cent of Hu-man Diseases originate from Animal Diseases (Zoonotic Diseases)}, Shri Suresh Prabhu, Former Union Min-ister( Agricultural sector and Natu-

ral Resources Accounting, Agro-Climatic Zones (micro level) to be expanded [CRIDA works with about 200 Zones], Mr. T R Kesavan, TAFE Ltd, Chennai( Farm Mechani-zation (http://www.farmech.gov.in), Mr. Sandeep Saxena, APC, Govt. of Tamil Nadu (GRISNET), Prof K V Thomas, Union Minister (Food) PDS and about 5 Lakhs Ration Shops). He highlighted the role of informat-ics in Farm Health Management , Plant Health Management, Animal Health Management, Animal trace-ability – identification , Fish Health Management, Soil Health Manage-ment, Water Health Management, Integrated Land Use Planning (LUP) for Sustainable Agricultural and Ru-ral Development. Sharing about di-verse initiatives of the government on the creation of Agriculture por-tal, he shared the vision for 2020 being,’ To prepare about 100,000 Agricultural Students ready, through agricultural informatics, for undertaking S&T based agricultural development and to rejuvenate and usher in agricultural dynamism in the country, by 2020’. Mr.Vivek Gupta, MP endorsed the suggestions and called for accelerated programming by all the stakeholders considering the new challenges in food and nu-tritional in security.

“it is imperative to have a national policy [and] mechanism for agribusiness and agriculture certification”The summit had a separate agribusi-ness session that was addressed by Mr. Vivek Arya of Monsanto India Limited, Dr. M. Muthoo, President AGRFOR and Roman Forum, Mr.Arie Veldhuzien, Agriculture Counsellor, Embassy of Netherlands . Dr. Mut-hoo, President AGRFOR, reflected on Environment and Development Agenda 21, Rio+20 Agriculture and Food Security, Global Goals and Targets (e.g., MDGs & post 2015 SDGs), Private Public People Partnerships (PPPP), Emerging Agri-Products Ethics and Legality, Lever-age Green Economy Markets and Trade. He described the certification objectives as promotion of sustain-able forest resources management,


Sixth Agriculture


understanding the assumptions that SFM is achievable and verifi-able; producers receiving net ben-efits from certification, promotion of trade from sustainably managed areas and that there is demand for certification in the market place; certified products receive facilitated market access. Describing the struc-ture of an agro-products certification scheme, he explained the benefits of certification. On the certifica-tion systems, Global and National, he said that there are so many in India, but none holistically focused on Agribusiness and Sustainable Agriculture & Rural Development (SARD) as there were limitation in implementing SARD Institutional barriers to national schemes, dif-ferent Standards & conformance infrastructure, complicated agri-products supply chain, cost of cer-tification and Financial support for the certification agencies. He called for adoption of capacity building approach to improve agribusiness governance, knowledge and skills about all agricultural products and related stakeholders considering the appropriate SARD management out-comes and measures for recognizing and rewarding family farmers, small and medium enterprises, producers, manufacturers and retailers. Certifi-cation per se as an effective tool to improve Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (SARD) and indi-cate a product, originates from well-managed farming systems, address-es the causes and consequences of land and soil degradation, water pollution and other unsustainable

practices. Given the global scenario, it is imperative to have a national policy [and] mechanism for agribusi-ness and agriculture ‘certification’. He said,” from National view point, certification is useful to ensure the continuity and valorisation of tra-ditional and organic products, and ensure holistically managed modern technology goods and services”. On the action points, he called for creation of national awareness and global market acceptance, clarifi-cation of costs of certification and benefit-sharing, support to national and sub-national site specific ini-tiatives, develop upfront minimum requirements for credible certifica-tion systems, standards and mecha-nisms, capacity building to achieve quality control and certifiability of Indian Agriculture sector and related products, promotion of Sustainable Agriculture environment, use certi-fication, interalia, as market-based soft policy instrument for sustain-able agriculture, farmer rewards and stakeholder stewardship, good

governance and corporate social re-sponsibility.

international perspectiveThe summit saw convergence of ideas from different parts of the world on a single platform. The international session had Dr. Is-lam Siddiqui, US Chief Agriculture Negotiator; Mr. Javier Paulinich, Ambassador of Peru; Dr. Bharat Sharma, Program Director , IWMI India; Mr. Allan Mustard, Minister Counsellor Agriculture, US Embassy and Dr.Sreepat Jain of CABI Inter-national. They put forward their re-flections on Indian scenario of agri-culture and the initiatives taken in different parts of the world. Mr.Allan Mustard referred to the signing of the Food Security Bill on September 12 by President Mukherjee, which created a right to food for roughly two thirds of India’s population. He viewed food security from the perspective of one of the world’s largest food exporters – the United States of America, while noting that America is viewed as rich but there


Sixth Agriculture


are pockets of poverty that exists; the U.S. Department of Agriculture, administers programs to guarantee nutrition to nearly 15 per cent of the U.S. population in any given month supplementing food availability for over half of America’s infants. In this regard, he shared interesting facts from a report on household food security in the United States by USDA’s Economic Research Service emerging from a national survey of 43,942 households conducted in December 2012.

Mr. Sreepat Jain of CABI de-scribed the work of his organization that improves people’s lives by pro-viding information and applying sci-entific expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment. He informed about ‘Plantwise’, which is an initiative to improve food security and the lives of the rural poor by reducing crop losses, and helps countries establish com-munity-based plant clinics which deliver practical advice to farmers when their crops have a problem. Direct2Farm Infomediary, another initiative, has databases of CAB Ab-stracts and Global Health databas-es, Books and E-books - Reference works, textbooks and monographs written and edited by leading scien-tists globally. “We publish some 60 new titles each year and Compen-dia - Encyclopaedic online reference compilations covering the subject areas such as crop protection, pro-duction, forestry, aquaculture and invasive species management and animal health”, elaborated Mr. Jain.

Ambassador Islam A. Siddiqui,

Chief Agricultural Negotiator, Of-fice of the United States Trade Representative,Executive Office of the President, Washington, DC on the priority research areas shared that new technologies need to be deployed to double global agricul-tural production by 2050 including biotechnology, nanotechnology, synthetic biology and informatics with a focus on interdisciplinary research and development in key priority areas such as Crop improve-ment, Livestock, poultry, and aqua-culture improvement, Reduction of post-harvest losses, Enhanced nu-trition and food safety, Improved marketing and infrastructure. He concluded citing president Obama “We also know that progress in the most impoverished parts of our world enriches us all. In many plac-es, people live on little more than a dollar a day. So the United States will join with our allies to eradicate such extreme poverty in the next two decades by connecting more people to the global economy and empowering women; by giving our young and brightest minds new op-portunities to serve and by helping communities to feed, power, and

educate themselves. ” Ambassador of Peru Javier Pau-

linich shared about Quinoa in the International Year of Quinoa con-sidered the Andean “super food”. Quinoa is an Andean plant and a sa-cred food in the ancient Inca’s Em-pire. Nowadays, Quinoa cultivation is spreading and it is consumed in more than 70 countries. Quinoa is the only plant food that has all the essential amino acids, trace el-ements and vitamins, and also has the ability to adapt to different eco-logical environments and climates.

Quinoa can play an important role in eradicating hunger, malnutrition and poverty. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization - FAO has declared 2013 the International Year of Quinoa. As the world fac-es the challenge of increasing the production of quality food to feed a growing population in a changing climate, Quinoa offers an alternative food source for those countries that are suffering from food insecurity. He expressed hope that with the ef-fort of Agriculture Today Group and all the Summit delegates, Indian population can take advantage of this super food, eradicating hunger and combat malnutrition.

Separate sessions were also held for Livestock, poultry and fish-eries where Dr.Jimmy Smith, Direc-tor General, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) chaired the session and coordinated the shar-ing of critical learning from Dr. AK Srivastava, Director National Dairy Research Institute, Dr.Madhumita Banerjee, ED, National Fisheries De-


Sixth Agriculture



Sixth Agriculture

velopment Corporation, Dr. Anup Kalra, CEO Ayurvet Limited and Dr.Khosla, International Agribusi-ness Consultant. Dr AK Srivastava called for protection of the indig-enous breeds and to ensure that cross breeding programmes guaran-teed preservation of the high yield varieties. He called for crossbreed-ing of the low yield varieties rather than eliminating the high yield va-rieties. Dr. Jimmy Smith, Director

General,ILRI highlighted the reduc-tion of cost of feeding of the animals . A consensus emerged on making the animals more and more useful. Appreciating the progress made in the fisheries sector, Dr.Madhumita Banerjee called for more support to the sector.

Session on India Africa planned for accelerated programme for realiz-ing the vision of India Africa partner-ship. The session had involvements

from Dr. Purvi Mehta, USAID and Dr MJ Khan sharing about the India Africa partnership in Agriculture, a joint forum launched by IACG, ICRI-SAT and ICAR. Responses to the submissions were received from the representatives from embassies and the experts, while USAID informed about APS bridge programme for highlighting the innovations in India towards meeting the food security challenges in Africa.

With the vote of thanks deliv-ered by Dr M J Khan, the Presi-dent of Agriculture Today Group to all participating in the summit,the prestigious 6th Agriculture Leader-ship Summit came to a conclusion leaving behind abundant hope for the future of food and nutritionally secure climate resilient India and world.

sixth agriculture leadership summit 2013agriculturetoday.in/img/summit 2013/summit 2013.pdfsixth...

Documents