Hyderabad, Nov 14 (Representative ) Ram Kaundinya, an expert of Food and Agriculture and author, opined on Wednesday that exporting rice and importing edible oil is actually a loss for an economy in the long run. In his keynote address at the Second Edition of Smart Agri Summit “Emerging Opportunities in Agriculture,” organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCC&I) here, Ram said that before talking about the increase in agri-export, we should think twice as the majority of the agri-export is rice. He mentioned that rice is the most water-consuming crop and also a major source of methane release in the atmosphere, which causes a rise in temperature. He said that a National Crop Strategy considering all the states’ geographical and climate conditions is an urgent need of the hour.
Dr. Saravanan Raj, Director General of MANAGE, who also seconded the view expressed by Kaundinya, said that the central government is supporting agri innovations and start-ups in an unprecedented way so that technological innovations are leveraged in agriculture to reduce input cost in farming. While addressing the summit, Deepthy Sunil, DGM, NABARD, Hyderabad said that the current focus of the bank is promoting sustainable agriculture and there have been discussions at length on credit and market linkages for farmers by industry leaders and experienced bankers. Jayanta Chakraborty, Chairperson, Agri-Horti-Food Processing Rural Development Committee of The Bengal Chamber and a Senior Consultant at Indofil Industries, who initiated the discussion on the need of market connectivity for the agri-producers for getting the right price and hence, advocated for demand driven agriculture. Shantanu Pendsey, former CGM at State Bank of India, Mumbai, said that the government has come up with several schemes to augment agriculture infrastructure across the Nation.
He asked the Farmers Producers Organisations (FPOs) who were present at the summit to explore and take benefits of the schemes to reduce post-harvest losses and connect the market. Sanjeev Kumar Baid, Vice President, Emami AgroTech explained the way large manufacturers of edible products procure raw materials from the farms and how FPOs may play a major role and get benefitted by entering that value chain. Dr Phani Rajasekhar CH, Senior Marketing Officer, Directorate of Marketing & Inspection, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, also addressed the session and explained the schemes which are available for the farmers to augment their farm activities and transform them into a profit-making business initiative. On the occasion, BCC&I conferred Lifetime Achievement Award on Ram Kaundinya for his exemplary contribution to Food and Agriculture.