Webinar on "Impact of Atmanirbhar package on agriculture" held
Source: The Sangai Express / PIB
Imphal, July 24 2020:
Press Information Bureau and ROB Imphal today hosted a webinar on the topic "Impact of Government of India's Atmanirbhar package on agriculture.
Inaugurating the seminar, SN Pradhan, ADG, PIB and ROB Imphal said that Atmanirbhar package has a substantial financial allocation for the agriculture sector and the number of policy initiatives taken has the potential to fully transform the lives of millions of farmers in the country.
Pradhan said that it is now essential to take all the information related to these reforms to the people through the media so that the farmers and the society can completely benefit from the initiatives.
Introducing Dr M Premjit Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Central Agriculture University, Imphal, Pradhan said that Dr Singh is a much-respected authority in the field of agriculture research who was honoured with The Young Scientist award in 1992 by DST, New Delhi for his research project "Studies on bee pollination of oilseed crops" .
Dr Singh has undertaken six research projects funded by external agencies.
In his keynote address, Dr Premjit said that the vision of the Prime Minister for doubling farmers' income by 2022 can be achieved in the North-Eastern states by giving location-centric scientific solutions to the farmers.
Dr Premjit said that farmers of the region have to move towards double cropping of rice as good varieties have already been developed and demonstrated.
He advocated using high technologies for multiplying incomes in horticulture, animal husbandry and fisheries.
He said that the return of migrant labourers to the region due to COVID pandemic can be used as a boon if we shift to new agriculture practices and involve people in agro-processing.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr A Sundari, Director, Green Biotech Eco-solutions said that the private sector has a huge role to play in multiplying farmers' income.
Abhishek Dayal, Director, PIB, Imphal summed up the discussion saying that the Central Government through Atmanirbhar package has ensured huge capital infusion to ensure that agriculture does not suffer during the economically uncertain times.
He also said that it is time that media and agriculture entrepreneurs and professionals work together to educate the people about these measures.
He thanked the participants for actively participating in the webinar.