A three-day international wheat seminar will be held virtually from Tuesday (July 6) with the focus on value-addition to help improve farmers income and create employment.

According to Raj Kapoor, Convenor of the wheat seminar, this is the ninth seminar that is being held by the Wheat Products Promotion Society (WPPS).

With India having achieved self-sufficiency in wheat production at least a decade ago, there is a need to produce value-added agricultural goods to help the economy. Kapoor said that the WPPS had recommended to the Centre at its eighth seminar for a change in agricultural laws to cater to the current needs.

Also read: Wheat purchases top record 40 million tonnes

The new farm laws, passed by Parliament in September last year, are designed to help farmers and also enable them to enter into a contract with agri-business firms, processors, wholesalers, large retailers and exporters, he said.

Focus of the seminar

The seminar will focus on the immense opportunities in the area of wheat products such as milled, baked and extruded products. India has over 1,500 flour mills, 20 lakh retail bakeries, 5,000 industrial bakeries and over 2,000 extruded plants which can be tapped to make the value-added products.

These can help promote new technologies and make India self-sufficient in the processing sector too, Kapoor said.

The seminar will discuss several topics on wheat production, processing, innovation, entrepreneurship, quality assurance and exports. Over 37 speakers, including from abroad, will address the seminar, which will be attended by 1,000 participants across the world.

Professor Ramesh Chandra, NITI Aayog member, will inaugurate the seminar.

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