Press Release
Jaipur, 24 May: The 3-day Global Rajasthan Agritech Meet (GRAM) is a combination of ‘sustainable growth for all farmers, systematic restructuring of profitable agricultural changes, amenable participation of farmers and acceleration of movement for overall prosperity’. This was stated by Consultant, LTC Commercial (P) Ltd., Mr. Raghunath Dass Chhabra.
The mega agri-event witnessed its first seminar on ‘Cultivating Opportunities through 4 Ws of Kota Agriculture’ today. The seminar discussed the convergence of warehouse, water availability, women empowerment and workforce development for transforming Kota’s agricultural.
Mr. Chhabra further said that warehousing is a need in plenty as well during the times of scarcity. There is an immense need to focus on preservation of crops to maintain the quality of food grains and other commodities. Appropriate storage facilities can also reduce transit losses and attract remunerative prices for good quality produce in the market. He also emphasized on the need for building high safety but low cost warehouses to accelerate sustainable growth of the farmers. He further added that farmers need not be isolated from the marketing activity. There is an immediate need for a process reversal in order to ensure that farmers have their stake in sharing profit.
Associate Director, Sustainable Agricultural Programme, WWF India, Mr. Sumit Roy spoke about ‘Water Harvesting in Kota – Unlimited Potential to Harvest’ during the seminar. He explained that water governance, water policy, water efficiency, crop choice, climatic factor as well as hydro geology and flow dynamics together determine water availability in a geographic location. He emphasized on the need for using technology to increase water efficiency and facilitate conjunctive water use.
Director, Indian Institute of Rural Development, Mr. Kuldeep Kr. Arora spoke on ‘Women Entrepreneurship – Road to Rural Transformation’. He said that there is a lot of scope for women in agriculture and allied activities. The agriculture sector supports 70 percent of India’s population. Arora emphasized on the need to create an entrepreneurial environment for women in which they not just see but also act up on what they see. He further added that participation of women in uplifting schemes by the Government is very low. Thus, each scheme should invite a certain percentage of women participation from the urban and rural sector.
Chief-Corporate Relations and GM – Corporate Communications, TAFE, Mr. Vijay Kumar Browning stressed on the need for workforce training in his presentation ‘Workforce Development – Time to Train’. He said that India needs skills across various sectors and agriculture that support more than half our population. Browning explained that by using a skilled workforce, longevity of machinery can be ensured as duration of machines used will be substantially reduced.
To conclude the seminar Senior Agriculture Economist, World Bank, Mr. Edward W. Bresnyan spoke about the key challenges in the agricultural value chain as well as the need for establishing warehouses through the region to maintain price stability and crop preservation. He also urged for the need for water efficiency by using technology like drip and sprinkler irrigation for better water management. He further added that there is a strong need to empower the women in order to unleash their entrepreneurship and value addition through skill development.
Photo caption: Some glimpses of GRAM Kota.
About ‘Global Rajasthan Agritech Meet 2017, Kota’ (GRAM)
GRAM Kota will be held from 24 to 26 May 2017 at RAC Parade Ground, Shivpura, Kota in Rajasthan. The event is being jointly organised by the Government of Rajasthan and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).
Government of Rajasthan looks forward to replicate GRAM 2016’s accomplishment at Kota in Rajasthan. One of the core objectives of GRAM Kota would be to expose the farmers of the Kota Division to best agriculture practices and define the next qualitative leap in Kota’s agriculture growth story.
The event will bring all stakeholders – farmers from in and around Kota, academicians, technologists, agribusiness companies and policy makers.