Shift agriculture to Concurrent List: CEOs at CII Agro Tech summit

Chandigarh, Nov 5 (IANS) In times when sustainable agriculture has emerged as the issue that needs threadbare discussion, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Saturday decided to tackle it head-on and suggested measures to help the country achieve it.

On this, shifting agriculture to the Concurrent List of the Constitution emerged as the major policy recommendation at a special CEOs' session on policy regulations for agriculture and allied sectors that the CII organised on the sidelines of the 15th edition of its CII AgroTech 2022.

Representatives of the government were also part of the important conversation.

Mayank Singhal, Chairman, CII Regional Committee on Agriculture, Food Processing and Dairy, said, "Sustainable agriculture is indeed a challenge, and the good thing is that it also there is a huge chance for growth if we get it right. Holistic integration of all interventions is the answer. However, states have remarkably varied methods on how they go about improving farming practices and the lives of farmers. This needs to change."

Samuel Praveen Kumar, Joint Secretary with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, said, "Such stakeholder consultations should continue and industry should come forward with some concrete plans for taking agriculture and allied sector to newer heights.

"The government is working to support the industry as well as the farmers and has introduced the first of many measures to come, such as the decriminalisation of certain seeds."

Rajesh Srivastava, Executive Chairman with Rabo Equity Advisors, said, "Agriculture credit needs to be boosted through better mechanisms and its availability must be ensured. It is also important that some banks align themselves to the new methods, where projects and cash flows are more important considerations than asking for collaterals for farmers."

The gathering also discussed ways on how to grow from less; for instance, using a lower amount of pesticides, yet doubling the yield.

Concluding the session, Singhal said, "It has been a fruitful session, and we have discussed issues from finance to policy to introduction of technology. Over time, we will achieve our objectives on each of the major discussion points. The governments have also been supportive."