Amritkal: Chhattisgarh Vision @ 2047: Detailed discussion on targets and challenges related to agriculture

Raipur : In relation to the preparation of Chhattisgarh Vision Document 2047 by Chhattisgarh State Policy Commission, a dialogue program was inaugurated by Finance Minister Shri O.P. Choudhary at the local New Circuit House today. To make Chhattisgarh a powerhouse of agriculture and processed superfood in the country, today farmers gave their suggestions on many issues including agriculture and food processing, horticultural crops, improvement in infrastructure in the field of agriculture. In the meeting, the topics related to agriculture, challenges and capabilities were discussed in detail.

In this dialogue program, youth, farmers, women and intellectuals participated in the discussion and expressed their views regarding their visions regarding developed India and developed Chhattisgarh.

Welcoming the youth, farmers, women and intellectuals who attended the program, Finance Minister Shri O.P. Choudhary said that all of you are eminent people of your field. Your ideas can effectively contribute in taking the country and the state to new heights. The
process of preparing the document “Amritkaal: Chhattisgarh Vision @ 2047” is underway. In the dialogue program, the farmers also discussed building a strong brand with forestry products, implementation of food processing techniques, investment in skill upgradation and infrastructure, increasing crop yield, focusing on horticulture for production of value-added products.

Suggestions were given by farmers on other important topics including increasing agriculture service centres, increasing the size of agricultural land, making consolidation plan for farms, promoting crop cycle, providing adequate loan facilities to farmers, soil testing and developing Chhattisgarh as a centre for herbs and forest produce, setting up forest produce trade centres, creating infrastructure for storage, processing and transportation, initiatives taken by the state government to empower farmers, strengthening minor forest produce, adequate availability of water and irrigation, animal husbandry and cow rearing management, increasing agricultural income per acre, increasing the subsidy rate given by the government.

Topics like better use of agricultural land and capacity to increase intercropping, increase in average monthly income per agricultural family, better loan facilities for farmers, need of advanced technology, precision farming to increase productivity and capacity were discussed to be included in the document.

Farmers who came from different districts of the state suggested that there is a need to make a coordinated plan for farmers. Transportation is a big issue in agriculture, cheap transportation should be considered. Farmers should get a fair price for the crops produced. Farmers should get timely information about the schemes made by the central government for the benefit of farmers.  

Farmers gave their suggestions on important issues including investing in agricultural research and development, emphasis on skill development and training programmes, organic farming, strengthening the food distribution system and cold storage.

Farmers also suggested that other important topics like maximum value addition in each crop, increasing income in agriculture related activities, opening new markets in the country and abroad, export centers, training laboratories, nurseries, need to run digital and financial literacy campaign, promoting global trade, capacity building under Van Dhan Shakti and empowering tribal society through government committees, promoting government markets, PPOs and government committees should be included in the document.

In this dialogue program, suggestions were given by many progressive farmers and agricultural scientists from the state including Mrs. Ankita Verma, Mr. Motiram Sinha, Mr. Kuldeep Patel, Mr. Rajneesh Gupta, Ms. Apoorva Tripathi, Mr. Mohan Patel, Mr. Rajesh Gupta, Mr. Ram Sharma, Mrs. Bindeshwari Sharma, Mr. Pushkar Chandrakar, Mr. Pankaj Sharma.