Nishant Bhaiji
INDORE: The first Agriculture Deputies Meeting under the Agriculture Working Group (AWG) of G20, spanning across three days, concluded in Indore on February 15. The meeting was an amalgamation of experiences rich in culture, cuisine, and history.
Key recommendation of member countries which emerged from the meeting was ways to incentivise farmers for adopting climate-friendly farming or green agriculture practices. The G20 nations also shared their experience on the impact of climate change in agriculture. They stressed on the need to increase climate finance to help farmers take up adaptation measures.
Countries’ intervention on the proposed agenda by the Indian Presidency was well received and discussed. The final day of the event started with technical theme-wise sessions wherein deliberations were held on four themes covering: “food security and nutrition”, “sustainable agriculture with climate smart approach”, “inclusive agricultural value chains and food systems”, and “digitalization for agricultural transformation”. Key officials from the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare participated in the technical sessions.
Smart intervention
On the second day of the working group meeting, Union Minister for Civil Aviation and Steel Jyotiraditya Scindia urged G20 nations to adopt ‘3S’ strategy – Smart, Sustainable and Serve – for the agriculture ecosystem in order to address the global food security concerns.
Emphasising on the need for an all-inclusive approach to agriculture which was driven by technological and digital innovation, Scindia said, “With technology and environment-savvy approach, yield can be increased. It is our notion and India believes in serving all.”
The minister, in particular pitched for “smart agriculture”, and appealed for adoption of drones and other new technologies for increasing the crop yield.
Drones for fields
According to industry estimates, there are 1,000 drones being used for agricultural purposes in the country. In the next one year, there would be around 3,000 drones in operation for agricultural use. The agriculture ministry had recently released standard operating procedures for the use of drones in pesticide and nutrient application.
The minister praised the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that in last eight years, the budgetary outlay for the farm sector had been increased by four-and-half times to USD 10.5 billion. He stated that India had made a significant progress in agriculture, it is the top nation in the world in milk production, second in vegetables and fruits and third in foodgrain production.
In total, 86 delegates from around 30 countries participated in the working group meeting.
