Union Minister Tomar calls on countries to work together to meet challenges in agriculture

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday urged all countries to work together to face the challenges in agriculture as they are global.Tomar, who addressed a press conference on the sidelines of the inaugural day of the three-day meeting of G20 Agriculture Ministers, said the G20 would be a useful platform for the nations to work together.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday urged all countries to work together to face the challenges in agriculture as they are global.

Tomar, who addressed a press conference on the sidelines of the inaugural day of the three-day meeting of G20 Agriculture Ministers, said the G20 would be a useful platform for the nations to work together. ''Mainly, the challenges in agriculture today are not only India's but global. All countries should work together. For this, a grouping like the G20 is a very useful platform. I feel all countries would be successful in finding solutions together to the contemporary challenges through consultation,'' he said. ''We try to learn from each other and collectively give solutions to the world. Such an effort will be there from this meeting,'' the Minister said. Representatives of the invited countries and about 10 international organisations participated on the inaugural day. Tomar said the G20 Agriculture Ministers meeting would discuss on various topics in different sessions. The priority areas of the Agriculture Working Group include food security and nutrition with a focus on improving social protection systems to promote agro-diversification and enhance food security, he said. The meeting would also address on sustainable agriculture and financing green and climate resilient agriculture with a climate smart approach. The other areas include strengthening infrastructure for small and marginal farmers, women and youth, sharing technology and investment. Digitalisation for agricultural transformation with emphasis on standardised agricultural data platform as digital public goods would also be discussed, the Union Minister said. Stating that India plays a leading role in the agriculture sector, he said the country works with nations from which it can learn and also shares its knowledge and experience with them. In the last nine years, many new dimensions have been established in the agriculture sector in the country which benefited the farmers, he said. Asked if the delay in monsoon will impact food production in the country, Tomar said it would be haste to make a prediction on it. On any drastic changes needed in cropping patterns in view of climate change, he said the The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is making climate-suitable seeds. The issue is also being discussed in the G20 meeting, he informed. Tomar said more work needs to be done vis-a-vis crop diversification and that the Centre is already working with the state governments on it. He also said that the government emphasis on organic and natural farming and it had found place in the last budget. The Centre would spend about Rs 1,500 crore on natural farming in the next five years, he added. Three meetings of the G20 agriculture working group were earlier held in Indore, Chandigarh and Varanasi.