Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan reviews IIVR work in UP's Varanasi, urges better farmer outreach, calls for focus on seed quality & natural farming

VARANASI: Union minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Rural Development, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, held a review meeting with scientists of the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research (IIVR) at the Circuit House auditorium on Friday.

He emphasised the need for agricultural scientists to advance the Developed Agriculture Resolution Campaign and improve communication with farmers.He praised the success of the campaign conducted nationwide and spoke about the continuous rise in food production in the country. He stressed the importance of improving its quality and ensuring the benefits reach farmers. He also highlighted the need to make farmers aware of genome editing, seed treatment, organic farming, and natural farming to boost vegetable production.

In addition, he called for a strategy to tackle issues like counterfeit fertilisers, poor-quality seeds, and harmful pesticides affecting farmers.The minister stated that there are 16,000 agricultural scientists in the country working on research and the development of high-quality seeds. He appreciated the Lab to Land programme, saying it enables research to be tailored to farmers' needs. He called for efforts to increase the shelf life of tomatoes, develop crops suitable for dry powder and export, gather scientific data from organic and traditional farming, and accelerate work on gene editing.

He also stressed the need for research under the Developed Agriculture Resolution Campaign to be based on farmers' practical requirements. He urged scientists to consider how lessons from the campaign can directly benefit farmers.He also spoke about the importance of increasing production through farmer-led innovations. He said the government is making efforts to increase agricultural output, reduce costs, provide compensation for crop losses, ensure fair prices for produce, and promote natural farming.

He stressed the need for better coordination between different departments, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), and the state agriculture department.The minister underlined the importance of preparing a region-specific action plan for the upcoming Rabi season and called for greater resilience in the vegetable production system in light of climate change. He emphasised the need for effective collaboration between agricultural science centres and research institutes to speed up the transfer of technology to farmers.Rajesh Kumar, Director of IIVR, presented a detailed report on the institute's achievements and work with farmers. He shared that under the Developed Agriculture Resolution Campaign, IIVR scientists had engaged with 61,109 farmers across 825 villages in six districts. Sudhakar Pandey, Assistant Director General of ICAR, gave a brief overview of the institute’s activities.The meeting was attended by a large number of IIVR scientists and officials, as well as state agriculture department officers and KVK representatives.