Ramesh Chand, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Education), ICAR, has emphasised the need for shifting the focus of agriculture policy from price to development.

Delivering the keynote address at a seminar on ‘Agriculture Market – Setting New Development Agenda,’ he said the gap between farm harvest prices and those paid by end-users has been widening, benefitting middlemen rather than farmers. This has been an important reason for the slow growth or stagnation in farm income.

He pointed out that the time has come to look at agriculture differently, considering the changes in agri-food demand and production. However, agricultural markets are not developing and moving forward to keep pace with the changes in demand, production and commercialisation of activities.

“We should not merely take produce from producers to end-users but should promote the welfare of producers and consumers. Today, agriculture has become a highly commercial activity requiring reasonable price realisation for producers to sustain themselves,” he said.

He said important factors affecting the market included changes in the marketing trends, the role of the Centre and State governments in fixing the minimum support price, and opportunities in agri-market in the changed economic scenario.

The seminar was jointly organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR) supported by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard).

N Ramesh, General Manager, Nabard, pointed out that the Centre is implementing various schemes through Nabard to encourage entrepreneurships in agriculture.

The session also highlighted modern concepts in agriculture and the success stories of entrepreneurs and corporates who have excelled in agriculture sector. It also analysed the challenges ahead to motivate more people to venture into agriculture as an alternative source of investment.

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