Coimbatore: There is a need for a paradigm shift in the governments, Parliament, legislature and NITI Aayog’s attitude towards agriculture, giving it attention and encouragement, said Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu.
Delivering the 41st convocation address at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University on Thursday, he said they should understand the problems of agriculture and address them in a timely basis. He said the government should always lend a helping hand to farmers and agriculture, which is already prone to the vagaries of the monsoon.
Naidu said though all state and central governments are adding facilities for farmers like rural godowns, cold storages, refrigeration vans and affordable cheap credit, a lot more needed to be done to encourage agriculture and farmers, who work not only for themselves but for the whole country.
However, the vice-president also praised the government’s efforts to handhold farmers and ensure they had access to seeds, pesticides, fertilizers and machinary during the Covid-19 lockdown resulting in increase in kharif cultivation.
Naidu said there was a need to increase resilience of Indian crops, by developing stress resistant varieties. “The direct impact of climate change over the next few decades will be on agriculture and food systems. The situation calls for development of climate resilient crops and varieties which can withstand stresses such as drought, flood, submergence, heat, cold, salinity, pests and diseases,” he said.
He requested TNAU to develop more engineered genotypes using traditional and biotechnological tools for biotic and abiotic stress resistance.
Noting that Tamil Nadu had bagged the “Best State Award for water management” for the year 2019 from the ministry of jal shakti, the vice-president said, “The performance of the state in agriculture and allied activities over the years has been exemplary in terms of production and adoption of high yielding varieties and technologies.”
Naidu also praised the university for using technologies like genome editing and CRISPR-Cas9. He advised the university and agriculture ministry to ensure that farmers receive remunerative prices through better storage, processing and efficient market mechanisms for farm inputs, financing and sale of outputs.
As many as 2,942 students graduated this year from the university. Of them, 156 of them received degrees on the dais. While 57 of them were medal winners, 99 students just received their degrees. Governor Banwarilal Purohit gave away the medals. Animal husbandry minister Udumalai K Radhakrishnan was also present.