Agriculture Technology Should Be Affordable To Small Farmers

The technology for agriculture sector should be sustainable and affordable to small farmers too, Secretary of the Union Ministry of Agriculture, T. Nandakumar, said here on Friday.

Inaugurating Agri Intex, the annual agriculture exhibition organised by the Coimbatore District Small Industries Association, he said, “Agriculture should be recognised as a knowledge sector that would adopt high level of technology. And, this technology should be affordable to small farmers.”

Mechanisation should improve efficiency and productivity. Indigenous machinery should be designed and developed for agriculture and horticulture as it would not be possible to import all the machinery for these sectors.

With increasing income levels, the demand for different varieties of food also went up. The demand for fruits, vegetables and processed fruits was increasing. So, the country had to produce these raw materials. “We need more food, feed and fibre,” he said.

Some of the constraints in producing these were limited availability of land, less water, variability in water availability and the impact of climate change. Technology was a solution to the problems faced by the sector. The research activities taken up in universities should reach the farm. There should be a strong connect between research and farmers. Analysis of soil health, macro and micro management of water, investment in technology and infrastructure to handle the agriculture produce were all important aspects.

The urban Indian families were moving towards processed food and this segment would probably grow at a faster rate now than it had earlier. For this, the production should have definite quality standards. The food processing industry should understand the problems and needs of farmers and try to support extension activities, he said.

P. Murugesa Boopathy, Vice-Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, said the seed replacement rate (SRR) achieved for rice was around 60 per cent. For pulses and oil seeds the SRR achieved was low. To improve the SRR, the university had taken up seed production in 32 centres for about 175 varieties.

Sugarcane cultivation was one area where mechanisation was required. The TNAU had displayed at the Agri Intex sugarcane harvesters purchased from Thailand. The university was also concentrating more on domestic and export market intelligence. It collected the market price for 152 commodities from 13 markets in South India and published these on its website www.tnau.ac.in and www.indg.in by 1. p.m.

S.V. Balasubramaniam, Chairman of the Bannari Amman Group of Companies, said that in 2008-2009 the country received almost 23 per cent low rains. The purchasing power of people was high and population was growing. So, the food needs were also going up. “We need to encourage agriculture to meet these demands,” he said. Global warming was a major challenge, he said.

K. Ilango, president of the Coimbatore District Small Industries Association, said though India was a growing economy with development in several sectors, many people were still dependent on agriculture. The Agri Intex was started in 2000 and was conducted almost every year. The focus this year was on technology.

D. Balasundaram, Chairman of Agri-Intex 2009, said the exhibition had over 200 stalls occupying nearly 2,600 sq m.

The fair would be on at the CODISSIA Trade Fair Complex till October 5. The Hindu.