Union Minister to open national agriculture summit in Himachal

Solan (Himachal Pradesh), May 27 (IANS) Over 1,000 participants will take part in the 12th Biennial Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Conference that will be held on June 1-2 at the Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry (UHF) at Nauni in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh.

Union Minister for Agriculture Narendra Tomar will inaugurate the conference. State Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur will be the special guest, while Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat will preside over the function.

Union Minister for State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary will be the guest of honour.

The valedictory session of the conference will be attended by state Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar and Union Minister for Fisheries Parshottam Rupala. Union Minister for State for Agriculture Shobha Karandlaje will also attend the conference on June 2.

Director-General of Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) Trilochan Mohapatra, Deputy Director General (Agriculture Extension) A.K. Singh and UHF Vice-Chancellor Rajeshwar Singh Chandel said this at press conference here on Friday.

They said over 1,000 scientists and policymakers from all over the country will take part in the conference. Mohapatra and Singh virtually addressed the press conference from Delhi.

Addressing the conference, Mohapatra said the theme of this year's biennial event is 'Sustainable Agricultural Production System'.

Discussions on topics like natural farming for sustainable production, precision agriculture, diversification and intensification, Krishi drones, and ICT application in agriculture will also be held at the conference.

He said emphasis will also be laid on how to attract youth towards agriculture occupation and deliberations will be held on the important mainstays for sustainable agriculture.

The main topic of the conference will be natural farming. This practice will not only help producing healthy food items but will also conserving the environment and lead to an increase in farm incomes.

Farmers engaged in natural farming in different parts of the country have been invited to the conference to share their experiences with the participants.

Chandel told the Himachal Pradesh government's 'Prakritik Krishi Khushaal Kisan Yojana' has generated a tremendous response from farmers which can be gauged from the fact that over 1.70 lakh farmers have joined this movement and are actively involved in this farming and playing their roles in the conservation of soil and water, environment and human health by producing healthy food items.

The agri-horti universities of the state are also conducting research trials on natural farming.

Chandel thanked ICAR for allowing the university to host such a mega event to showcase the work done in natural farming to the country.