OdishaPlus Bureau
Odia Samaj, New Delhi, a socio-cultural organisation today organised a webinar on the topic “Odisha Ra Krushi O Atmanirvarata”. The webinar was graced by Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel, Govt. of India as the Chief Guest of the occasion and Sidhartha Pradhan, IRS (Retd.) President, Odia Samaj.
The panel of speakers included Dr. S. K. Pattanayak, IAS (Retd.), Director General Administrative Staff College of India; Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary & DG, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi; Dr. Saurabh Garg, IAS, Principal Secretary, Dept. of Agriculture & Farmers Empowerment, Govt. of Odisha; Prashant Kumar Swain, Joint Secretary, Dept. of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India; Shri Sanjeev Kumar Chadha, IFS, Managing Director, NAFED (National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation of India Ltd.). Over 550 agro-entrepreneurs, agriculturalists, representatives from various agro industries, intellectuals, and students participated in the webinar.
Pradipta K Sahoo, Business Head, Safal and member, Odia Samaj moderated the discussion. He welcomed everyone to the webinar and started the session by saying agriculture, food and happiness are very closely related to each other. Agriculture plays a vital role in the Indian economy.
Union PNG Minister Dharmendra Pradhan while addressing the session said now farmers are going to enjoy more freedom in production, storage and marketing of their products. He said, all policy makers, social organizations, banking institutions and intellectuals should come forward and join hands to create an eco-system in Odisha with the aim to make at least 1 lakh youth self-reliant in
Dr. S K Pattanayak, IAS (Retd.), Director General, Administrative Staff College of India said, farmers will help in making India the “Food Basket of the World” in next five years. He also discussed about the way forward with action points in this regard.
Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary & DG, ICAR laid emphasis on farmers in Odisha following good agricultural practices and integrated farming techniques that will help them in enhancing productivity. He also gave information about research, skill based education and extension programmes available for students and research fellows in the field of agriculture and other allied sectors and proposed to introduce more diploma courses in agriculture and allied sectors which will produce more agro-entrepreneurs.
Dr. Saurabh Garg, IAS, Principal Secretary, Dept. of Agriculture & Farmers Empowerment, Govt. of Odisha gave an insightful presentation on Agriculture roadmap in Odisha and briefed about the current scenario of Odisha’s agriculture and allied sectors. He also spoke about ease of living in Agri and role of 3 Ps i.e. Price, Prestige and Pension for farmers & action plan for agri and allied sectors in Odisha.
Sanjeev Kumar Chadha, IFS, MD-NAFED spoke about various post harvest interventions including procurement, logistic facilities, warehousing and storage facilities available for the farmers, standardisation and grading of agro products, various value addition methods and export facilities provided by the government and NAFED for agriculturalists.
Prashant Kumar Swain, Joint Secretary, Dept. of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India briefed about various post harvest interventions with a focus on FPPs and Cluster Based Business Organizations (CBBOs). He also emphasized upon the importance of e-NAM, a pan-India electronic trading portal which networks the existing APMC mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities and described how the application will help the farmers in Odisha to double their income by 2022 and in making agriculture a sustainable enterprise.
Concluding the session, Sidhartha Pradhan, President, Odia Samaj thanked the esteemed guests for their valuable insights. Speaking on the subject of the webinar he said, attaining self reliance in the agriculture sector will play a crucial role in making India food sufficient.
The Webinar was also broadcast live on Odia Samaj, New Delhi facebook page www.facebook.com/NewDelhiOdiaSamaj.