The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu has said that Entrepreneurship development is an integral part of farming process to increase the profitability of farming. He was addressing the gathering after inaugurating the 9th 'Agrovision' Workshops, National Expo & Conference, in Nagpur, Maharashtra today. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Devendra Fadnavis, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation, Shri Nitin Gadkari, the Minister of Energy, New and Renewable Energy, Maharashtra, Shri Chandrashekhar Bawankule, the Minister of Agriculture and Horticulture, Maharashtra, Shri Pandurang Fundkar and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.The Vice President said that unless we create a value chain involving the producer till consumer the profitability of farming shall not improve. He further said that in the last few years there has been an agrarian crisis and the profitability of farm sector has declined. This is mainly because farmers have medium to small holdings, and poor market access and also too much dependence on few crops and very little diversification, he added.
The Vice President said that Agrovision has now emerged as the Central India’s Largest Agri Summit and is strengthening the confidence of farmers to make agriculture an economically viable and a sustainable profession. The prosperity of the nation is linked to the betterment of farming community and naturally they need to be enlightened on the use of modern technologies for achieving sustainability and profitability, he added.The Vice President said that the farmers of this country made the nation self sufficient in food milk, vegetables, fruits, cotton sugar and many other agricultural produce through a series of revolutions like green, white and blue revolutions. Unfortunately the increased production has not resulted in proportional increase in the farmers’ income, he added.The Vice President said that the vision of our founding fathers was to have an India that is prosperous, peaceful and progressive. He further said that the Agrovision carries a similar vision to drive its mission forward and in order to move towards home grown food security, we have to create an effective agricultural eco-system. Knowledge sharing and encouraging adoption of new technologies is an integral and key part of this eco-system, he added.