Agriculture Minister Dattatraya Bharane Extends Best Wishes to the First Group of Farmers Leaving for Overseas Tour

Mumbai, Jan 2026 : On behalf of the Agriculture Department, Agriculture Minister Dattatraya Bharane extended his best wishes to the farmers who departed under the “Farmer Foreign Study Tour Scheme,” which aims to enhance farmers’ knowledge and enable them to study modern agricultural technologies. The Minister interacted with the farmers through a video call and encouraged them to study advanced farming technologies abroad and share their experiences with farmers back in the state.

Under the “Farmer Foreign Study Tour Scheme,” three study tours have been planned for the year 2025–26. These include visits to Europe, Israel, and the countries of Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Under this scheme, a combined study tour to Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines was organised on January 17, 2026. The participating farmers departed from Pune and travelled onward via Mumbai. This study tour includes 15 progressive farmers from the state, one Agriculture Department officer, and one representative from a travel company.

Through this study tour, the participating farmers will get an opportunity to directly study modern farming methods, protected cultivation, agro-processing industries, export-oriented production technologies, as well as agricultural management and marketing systems in various countries. The experience gained from this tour is expected to help make agriculture in the state more productive and sustainable.

Notably, this is the first foreign study tour organised after 2019, and the Agriculture Department has once again begun implementing this ambitious scheme effectively. The department has expressed confidence that this initiative will provide farmers with exposure to international-level agricultural technologies and give a new direction to agricultural development in the state.