The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu has said that value addition for agricultural production is one of the solutions for improving farmers' income. He made these comments while addressing the inaugural session of the International Conference 'AFITA/WCCA2018' on Research Frontiers in Precision Agriculture, jointly organized by Asia-Pacific Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, International Network for Information Technology in Agriculture and Indian Society for Agricultural Information Technology, in Mumbai.

The Vice President said that farming community needs to diversify and take up allied activities like fisheries, dairy and poultry as well to supplement on-farm incomes. Expressing concern over the increasing urban rural divide, the Vice President said that such divide would consolidate majority population in urban areas only. He suggested developing Smart Villages along with Smart Cities with a greater focus on technological innovations in agriculture.

The Vice President said that we need smart farmers who absorb new knowledge and skills. Technology cannot be confined to urban areas and it must spread quickly to the rural population and enable farmers to harness its potential. It must be remembered that, agricultural renaissance can take shape only on a strong digital foundation, he added. The Vice President also said that India's digital revolution must be expanded to rural areas enabling the population to adopt use of digital tools. He suggested taking the leap forward in agricultural productivity using digital applications and technological innovations.

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