Taking cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new agricultural mission to double the farm incomes by the year 2022, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is all set to promote growth in the agricultural sector of Rajasthan. Occupying an area of about 342,239 sq km, Rajasthan is the largest state of India located in the north-western part of the country.
Commonly known as the desert land, Rajasthan is the leading producer of major crops and cereals in India. It is the third largest producer of pulses and oil seeds, fourth largest producer of spices and sixth largest producer of citrus fruits.
Global Rajasthan AgriTech Meet 2016 (GRAM), an initiative taken by the Rajasthan State Government, is a three day event starting from 9th to 11th November in its capital city Jaipur will mainly focus on promoting organic farming as it has large tract of land traditionally dedicated to organic farming. Dungarpur is being developed as an ‘organic district.
In the recent past, many policy changes were made in the agricultural sector by the State Government in order to expose farmers to the limitless possibilities with the help of technological and scientific reforms. Inspite the reforms, Rajasthan showed a limited growth in this sector as the socio-economic conditions of the farmers do not enable them to access the advances available globally.
Through GRAM 2016, the government aims at technological and infrastructural interventions for sustainable enhancement of farm productivity, reducing post-harvest losses, promoting farm based industries and ensuring higher return to the farmer while delivering better quality products to consumers. The summit will also showcase the best-case practices for the farmers in the state itself and effectively introduce the technological change necessary for their growth.
With 10 agro-climatic zones under its area, Rajasthan leads in the production of a large variety of crops in India. It has 14% of India’s cultivable land out of which 53% is the net sown area. Below are the objectives set for the GRAM 2016–
FARMER EMPOWERMENT:
Empowering farmers with the information on latest technical reforms and related practices
SHOWCASE AGRI-INNOVATIONS:
Giving the farmers a platform to exhibit their innovations and entrepreneurial solutions
MARKETING TIE-UPS:
Providing a platform for the agriculture based firms to promote themselves and/or find promoters
JOINT VENTURES:
For firms with similar objectives and strategic assets in order to facilitate joint ventures between them
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFERS:
For sharing of knowledge and technology amongst willing firms/individuals.
INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENTS:
For firms exhibiting their products & technology to look for investors
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES:
For attendees to identify new business opportunities and avenues for growth
ENCOURAGE AGRI-BASED RESEARCH:
A platform for academic and agricultural research based studies discussions with industry leaders.
COMMON PLATFORM FOR AGRI AND ALLIED ECOSYSTEM:
To promote both agriculture and allied ecosystems.
GRAM 2016 will help bring all stakeholders under one roof– farmers, academicians, technologists, agribusiness companies and policy makers – to accelerate development of sustainable agricultural and allied activities using innovative methods. Through this summit, the farmers will be exposed to the best technological advancements and global best-practices while showcasing their innovations to agri-business communities from across the world. The representatives from across the world and over 40,000 farmers from across the country will attend the Global Rajasthan Agritech Meet 2016.
Various information centers and e-mandis are also being set up for marketing the farmer’s products. Currently the agri sector contributes 31% in the State’s growth and with the introduction of the schemes in GRAM 2016, 50% increase is expected.
This summit aims at informing the farmers on issues of soil health, seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, micro irrigation, agriculture equipments, organic farming, contract farming, livestock, dairy and milk processing, post harvest management, animal husbandry, etc through kisan goshthees. The event will be organised in biennial manner with the next event being organised in 2018.
