A AKHTER / New Delhi
Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday chaired a high-level meeting related to the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research at his office here, where he stressed the need to make Indian agriculture more productive, climate-resilient and profitable for farmers.
During the meeting, the Minister conducted a comprehensive review of the functioning and ongoing activities of ICAR. Director General of ICAR and Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Dr M. L. Jat briefed the Minister about various research programmes, scientific initiatives and agricultural projects being implemented across the country.
Officials also presented ICAR’s future roadmap and outlined the Council’s strategy to ensure that scientific research and innovation directly benefit farmers and strengthen the agricultural economy.
Addressing senior officials, Shri Chouhan said agriculture remains the backbone of the Indian economy and the primary source of livelihood for a large section of the population. He emphasized that all policy efforts, research initiatives and institutional resources should focus on transforming farming into a low-cost, high-productivity and profitable occupation.
The Union Minister placed special emphasis on the expansion of integrated farming systems and directed officials to encourage farmers across the country to adopt diversified and sustainable farming models in a practical manner. According to him, integrated farming can significantly improve farmers’ incomes while also promoting long-term sustainability in agriculture.
Highlighting the growing impact of climate change, Shri Chouhan said scientific agriculture is now the need of the hour. He noted that changing weather patterns and climatic uncertainties are increasingly affecting farming activities not only in India but globally.
Keeping these challenges in mind, the Minister instructed officials to prepare state-specific agricultural roadmaps based on the agro-climatic conditions of individual states, in consultation with state governments. He said region-focused planning would help improve productivity and make Indian agriculture more resilient to climate-related risks.
Officials informed the Minister that work on such roadmaps has already begun for states including Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Rajasthan following requests from the respective state governments.
Expressing satisfaction over ICAR’s ongoing action plan, Shri Chouhan directed officials to work with greater urgency and commitment so that key targets and reforms could be achieved ahead of schedule. Senior officials of ICAR were also present during the meeting.