Souvenir

2nd Agriculture Leadership Summit 1

Post Event Souvenir

2nd Agriculture Leadership Summit2

Post Event Souvenir


Post Event Souvenir

The 2nd Agriculture Leadership Summit and LeadershipAwards 2009 were organized by Agriculture Today on4 – 5 Sept., 2009 at Taj Palace, New Delhi. The Summit

was inaugurated by the Union Minister, Dr. MS Gill in thegracious presence of Prof. PK Dhumal, Chief Minister ofHimachal Pradesh, Gen. NC Viz, Vice Chairman, National Di-saster Management Authority, Prof. KV Thomas, Union Min-ister of State for Agriculture, H.E. Mark Sofar, Ambassdor ofIsrael and Prof. MS Swaminathan, MP (RS), Pioneer of India’s1st Green Revolution.

Dr. Gill in his address noted that agricul-ture is a topic not much discussed inIndia, either by common man or the Par-liament and felt that the marginal andsmall farmers are in great distress today.He stressed for the development of agri-cultural infrastructure. He described thecurrent agriculture situation as dis-satis-factory, in the wake of its decreasing con-

tribution of agriculture in India’s GDP, extremely low level ofpublic and private investments and the most frightening of all- lowering farm incomes, resulting into widening gap in ruralurban income ratio. He shared his experience of participating inthe Green Revolution efforts, as Registrar of Cooperatives inPunjab during that period. He said the risk taken by the PunjabGovernment to distribute imported Mexican wheat seeds, re-sulted into substantial increase of wheat production. He termedthe Green revolution as an input based revolution, which wasmainly imported. Dr. Gill called for need to pay attention to theagricultural marketing and linking farmer with the market. Heemphasised that to develop India, agricultural developmenthas to be the priority of any Government.

2nd Agriculture Leadership Summit

Prof. K.V. Thomas, Union Minister ofSate for Agriculture, in his address cov-ered current agriculture scenario and themonsoon failure this year. He describedthe serious implications of the prevail-ing drought conditions on the farm pro-duction and the public life. Agricultureresearch should be focused on theneeds of the farmers. He stressed that

the political leadership has to work very closely with thedevelopment system to take the agriculture to the next level.Prof. Thomas added that realization of food security is criticalto achieving the 8 point Millennium Developmental Goals by2012. He said that the National food Security Mission is inthat very direction after the successful implementation ofRight to Information and Right to Education Acts by theGovernment.

General N.C. Vij, Vice Chairman, NationalDisaster Management Authority sharedthe intricacies involved with Disastermanagement and emphasized the needfor including disaster reiterated that ag-riculture is still the backbone of Indianeconomy. He also expressed concernover the fact that the share of agricul-ture in the total national economy has

been declining over the years and recommended some cor-rective measures. He said that over 276 districts are declareddrought hit by the government, and suggested extending thescope of disaster management to the co-operative and pri-vate sector. He urged the corporates present at the summit to

Under the shadow of a severe drought in India,the world wide recession andever increasing food prices, a new pledge of improving food production in aneco-friendly sustainable agricultural model was taken at the 2nd Agriculture

Leadership Summit 2009, organised by Agriculture Today

Mr. MJ Khan, Prof. PK Dhumal, Prof. MS Swaminathan andDr. MS Gill releasing Year Book 2009

Mr. Mark Sofar lighting the inaugural lamp, also in the pictureProf. MS Swaminathan, Prof. KV Thomas and Gen. NC Vij


Post Event Souvenir

Dr. MS Gill delivering mementos to the sponsors of the summit

pay attention towards CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)duties for the better development of the society and peopleat large.

His Excellency, Mr. Mark Sofar,Ambassador of Israel noticed theimportance of agriculture in nationalincome and the lives of common Indianpeople. He expressed his condolences tothe deceased Chief Minister of AndhraPradesh Dr. YSR Reddy, and rememberedhis works towards community

development programmes and the upliftment of downtrodden.He shared his experiences of micro-irrigation and watermanagement technologies. He also commented that Israeland India can partner in the field of drip irrigation and advancedagriculture techniques.

Prof. M.S. Swaminathan, Chairman,Organising Committee and NotedAgriculture Scientist talked about climatechange initiatives for sustainableagriculture development. In his speech,the learned professor stressed on thethree basic components needed forincreasing productivity i.e., technology,

public policy and farmers’ enthusiasm. He also noted that theparameters to measure success of policies in context toagriculture development need change from measuring increasein production to increase in the income of farmers.

Earlier welcoming the gathering, Mr. MJKhan, Chief Editor, Agriculture Today dis-cussed the current agriculture scenario inthe backdrop of climate change and pre-vailing drought situation. He added thatadoption of appropriate technologies inagriculture and their holistic integrationcan only bring forth the next revolution inthe farm sector.

Political Leadership GroupThe Political Leaders Session started with the address ofProf. PK Dhumal, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. Prof.

Dhumal pointed out that thepattern of agricultural devel-opment is uneven among vari-ous groups of farming com-munity. He said that the timehas come to address to theproblems of agriculture as awhole. He also said that hisGovernment has taken initia-tives to make Himachal Pradesh climate neutral.Mr. Dawcho Lepcha, Honb’leMinister of Agriculture andHorticulture, State of Sikkim inhis short discourse reiteratedthe dream of Chief Minister ofSikkim, Mr. Pawan Chamlingfor making Sikkim an Organicstate by 2015.

Mr. Rajendra Singh, President of TarunBharat Sangh and Magsasay Awardeestressed on the problems created bymodern agriculture and suggestedtaking to the natural indigenous farmingsystem, practiced traditionally by Indianfarmers. He pointed out that the areaunder drought and famines haveincreased over the years. He also saidthat the policies governing our water and natural resourcesshould take care of our geo-cultural diversity.

Prof. MSSwaminathanin his conclud-ing remarkssaid “Leader-ship has an im-portant role toplay in the de-velopment ofagriculture. Hesaid, the re-solve of Prof.Dhumal toc o n v e r t

Himachal into an organic state, is the example of what leader-ship can do. He requested Prof Dhumal to develop strongschool of research, as organic farming involves more sciencethan the chemical ones. Prof. Swaminathan commended theworks done by Mr. Rajinder Singh, popularly known as the“Waterman of India”, particularly in Rajasthan in the area ofcommunity driven decentralized water management systemsand its conservation.

Industry Leaders GroupThe Industry Leaders Session startedwith the comments of Mr. US Jha, Chair-man and Managing Director, RashtriyaChemicals and Fertilizers. His talk revolvedaround the need for the Integrated Nutri-ents Management System. He pointed out

Prof. P K Dhumal, Chief Minister of HimachalPradesh with Dr. MS Swaminathan


Post Event Souvenir

(L-R) Mr. US Jha, Mr. UC Sarangi, Mr. Anjanikumar Choudhari, Mr. RG Agarwal and Mr. Kapil Mehan during IndustryLeaders session

that improved productivity depends on increased fertilizer ap-plication.

Mr. M. Prabhakar Rao, President of Na-tional Seed Industry Association pointedout the advantages of BT cotton and in-formed the august gathering that effortsare on to spread BT cotton suitable for allagro climatic regions. He also said thatthe association was also promoting goodagronomic practices.Mr. Anjani Kumar Chaudhary President,M&M Farm Equipment Sector in his ad-dress noted that there was a need for in-vestment in improving agricultural out-put. He said that less than 10% of Indianframers own tractors, while 30% usethem. He said that the farmers have real-ized the importance of farm equipments

in improving the profitability of farms and farmers. He empha-sized by giving example of China, the need for providingsubsidy in a time bound manner to give a one time quantumjump in improving infrastructure.

Mr. RG Aggarwal, Chairman of Crop CareFederation of India in his address saidthat we use only 2% of the world’spesticides consumption, while weproduce 16% of the food. He blamed someinterest groups for spreadingmisinformation about excess insecticidesbeing applied. He felt that the higherproductivity of China is due to their higher

usage of pesticides and fertilizers.Mr. Kapil Mehan, Executive Director,Tata Chemicals felt that the need of thehour was to deliver better quality food.He also informed that the Tata Groupcompanies have had their CarbonFootprint mapped out and the groupcompanies have taken uponthemselves to reduce their emission

quantities.

Shri UC Sarangi, Chairman NABARD,said in his observations that inputsupported by banks will help farmers tosource better inputs thereby improvingproductivity. He elaborated on the needfor better farming – industry – bankslinkages for improving farm productivityand market access.

Experts GroupAddressing the Summit, Dr. KL Chadha, Pioneer of GoldenRevolution in the said that there is dearth of specialists in thefield of monsoon and climate change. “R&D has to be takenup towards the development of seeds resilient to extremeclimates of drought and flood”. He also stressed to reorientthe research and extension towards changing agriculturecycle in the view of climate change. He also urged for inclusionof high value agriculture like dairy, horticulture and fisheriesto minimise farm risks and also for the adoption of resourceefficient technologies like micro-irrigation and poly houses.

Dr. KL Chadha Dr. Reyes Tirado Dr. CD Mayee


Post Event Souvenir

Dr Reyes Tirado of Greenpeace said, “Our aim is to defendthe planet. It is for Asia and India also to work about theclimate change. Food and Climate change has been prioritizedat Greenpeace, which conducts campaigns for climate andenvironment”. She added that climate change is alreadyhappening and the attention required is urgent, as reflectedin the current monsoon failure and prevailing droughtconditions, spread across the country. She said that thepresent agriculture model is mainly based on chemicalfertilisers and pesticides, which has to be changed to a moresustainable model with the concept of food security. Thelatest UN report titled, “Global Agriculture Assessment”states that in agriculture, business as usual is not an option,said Ms. Tirado. She said that no single genetically engineeredcrop had resistance towards drought, salt and famineconditions, while stressing that ecological farming wassustainable and very much possible for the economic andsocial development of the rural folks.Dr. CD Mayee, Chairman, ASRB admitted that there may beshortage of about 10 mt of rice this year on account of pre-vailing drought and said that this could be compensated bygiving production stress on rabi rice in many parts of thecountry. He stressed for increasing the water use efficiencyby adoption of resource efficient technologies like SRI, de-velopment of drought tolerant varieties of rice, the water con-suming crops. Subsidies for the dryland and rainfed farmingwas advocated by Dr. Mayee. He urged for the adoption ofalternate farming with horticultural crops, dairy, fishery,pulses, oilseeds and poultry, as the source of financialgrowth. He emphasisez on the need for extension of cuttingedge technologies in agriculture with the vertical integrationand knowledge based farm extension rather than information,as practiced by most of the extension agencies in the countrytoday.

Farmers and NGOs GroupDr. Vandana Shiva, noted environmental activist andChairperson, Navdanya Foundation termed this year’sdrought as an extreme situation. She said “After the releaseof IPCC report, the heat of climate change has been felt by alland eventually have cleared all the doubts about the climate

change”. The panel has made the pointthat the climate change and globalwarming are the contributions of humanactivities. She also stressed that postgreen revolution; we have moved muchtowards the non- sustainable agriculturalpractices. “We have almost lost theagricultural diversity, with the presence

of only rice and wheat everywhere, which may cause disasterto the future generations. Diversity should be treated assystem of production and not only a weapon against themonoculture,” she added. Dr. Shiva further added that smallscale integrated farming system were much more productivethan a large extensive farm, with the main focus on thebiological productivity of the system. She also stressed thatthe yield should not only be the productivity criteria inintegrated farming models, as biological and ecologicalassessment had to be taken into consideration for the realpicture in terms of farm sustainability.

Dr. Kirti N. Shelat stressed upon the needfor taking up the leadership in the area ofsustainable agriculture development. Healso threw light upon the changes occur-ring in the climatic situations and agricul-ture ecosystem over the years. Dr. Shelatemphasized the need to address sustain-able farming, food security and land deg-

radation issues on urgent basis with the thrust on land, waterand resource management by taking up the developmentalleadership.

Mr. Krishan Bir Chaudhary, Chairman,Bhartiya Krishak Samaj noticed that farmpolicies are no longer pro- farmers, ratherthey are pro corporate. After 3rd Plan, wehave not moved in irrigation expansionand development. Developed nationswere the major culprit for the climatechange, with the US alone contributing

26 per cent of total CO2

emissions, whereas India’s share isonly 2 per cent. Inspite of this, western countries blame Asian

nations for the phenomena of global warming andother related problems, he said. He lambasted theresearch institutes for not working for the farmers’needs and interests and for supporting the MNCsand corporates.

Dr. M.H. Mehta, Chairman, Sci-ence Ashram, who chaired thesession, said that higher pro-duction could be ensured withlow input cost with the adop-tion of his 20-20 model of agri-culture, which is based on re-ducing the use of inputs by 20%,

while increasing the yields by 20%. He said thatseveral countries have done it and the same needsto be launched urgently in India to make agricultureprofitable. He advised for a national mission for theuse of farm generated and recycled bio- inputs andbiological control methods for pest and disease con-

Mr. K B Chaudhary, Dr. MH Mehta and Dr. Vandana Shiva at the Farmersand NGOs Session


Post Event Souvenir

operation and informed that Netherlands wished to cooper-ate and offer its knowledge and expertise in food processingand contribute to the growth of Indian agriculture.

Mr. Roberto Zagha, Country Director ofWorld Bank commented that one of thepositive outcomes of sustainable landmanagement was that it can triggersustainable food security. He alsoinformed that the World Bank wasworking with the Government of India ontwenty different programs with a financial

involvement of 3.5 billion dollars. He felt that the challengesexisted in the scaling of the programs and integrating withthe global initiatives.

Dr. Prabhat Kumar, IAS, Resident Director,ICRISAT in his address said that thedefinition of development had to change.He suggested that we need to take smallsteps and educate ourselves on the causesand ways and methods to mitigate theeffects of climate change.Dr. Avri Bar Zur, Counselor, Science andAgriculture, Embassy of Israel emphasizedthe need to transform the agriculture fromlow yielding cereal crops to high return.He said that Israel wished to develop inconjunction with the Indian counterparts,new technologies suitable to the smallfarms. The counselor said that he wishedto develop a center of excellence, which

would work closely with the Indian extension workers andclose the gap between research and reality.

Mr. Ge Songxue, Counselor of Scienceand Technology, China noted thesimilarities in agriculture between Chinaand India. He said that China has almost17% of the world’s population but only7% of the arable lands and similarly Indiahas 14% of the world’s population andonly 2% of the arable land. He suggested

that both China and India should cooperate in the field ofagriculture in meeting the challenge of making the worldhunger free.

Dr. Bimal Jalan, Mr. K Rahman Khan and Mr. Hukum DeoNarayan Yadav at the Parliamentarians Session

trol and soil health management. He urged to make it popularamong the masses by the extension agencies to make thefarms remunerative and more viable.

Parliamentarians GroupShri Hukum Deo Narayan Lok Sabha andformer Union Minister of State for Agri-culture touched upon the subject ofpoliticization of agriculture. He com-mented on modernization of Indian agri-culture and pointed out that moderniza-tion of traditional knowledge was actual

science.Dr. Bimal Jalan, former Governor of RBIand Member of Parliament, said that themain problem with equitable growth in ourcountry was the rural scenario. He notedthat the rural areas were least served bythe growth of industry and services inour country. He cautioned that unless weconcentrated on rural development, we

would not be able to bring a big change in Indian economy,as the bulk of our population is in rural areas.

Mr. K. Rehman Khan, Hon’ble Dy. Chair-man of Rajya Sabha, chairing the session,commented that we should enhance theinvestment in agriculture and provide fa-cilities and inputs to the farmers. He cau-tioned that if agriculture is thrown non-remunerative, it will have massive socialand political fall out for the country. Mr.

Khan shared the concerns that the House need to devotemore time for discussions on farmers issues.

Foreign Representatives GroupMr. Hans Wolff, Agriculture Counselor,Embassy of Holland in his address statedthat Holland would like to have stronglinkages with India in farm sector. “Hol-land has high levels of expertise in dairy,horticulture and advanced farming sys-tem, which can be used to make farmingmore profitable. He also said that agricul-ture is a knowledge and money intensive

Dr. RB Singh, Mr. Ge Songxue, Dr. Avri Bar Zur, Mr. RobertoZagha, Mr. C R Jayasinghe and Dr. Prabhat Kumar at theForeign Representatives Session


Post Event Souvenir

His Excellency, Mr. C R Jaisinghe, HighCommissioner of Sri Lanka noted thesimilarity of challenges faced by India andSri Lanka, which attained freedom almostat the same time. He noted that we facedchallenges almost in the same way as Indiaand future of the two countries werelinked. While appreciating the efforts of

India in collaborating with Sri Lanka in food and agriculture,Hon’ble High Commissioner emphasized the need for moreregional and global partnerships in agriculture towardsachieving global food security.

Mr. R B Singh former ADG (Asia Pacific)FAO, while moderating the discussions,commented that while India has madetremendous progress in agriculture in thelast four decades, but it still houses onefourth of the world’s hungry. Therefore,there is need for collective global effortsto fight hunger and malnutrition, and

which is possible by improving production and access tofood, asserted Dr. Singh.

Institutional Heads SessionMr. YC Nanda, Chairman, AgriculturalFinance Corporation, in his commentssaid that the current drought situation hasopened our eyes to the kind ofpreparedness needed to tackle similarsituations in future. He also expressed hisconcerns about the rising price of sugar.He said that the productivity of cane had

become stagnant and their have not been any technologicalbreakthroughs.

Mr. Arvind Mehta of PlastIndiaFoundation suggested that increase inproductivity was crucial for sustainabilityof agriculture and drip irrigation andplastics in agriculture could play a keyrole in that. “Drip irrigation and otherapplications of plastics, like Green Housetechnology, packaging of fresh farm

produce, scientific distribution and handling can revolutionizethe Indian agriculture with very high levels of cost benefitratio” said Mr. Mehta

Dr. BS Sajwan, CEO, NMPB believed thatfood security and health security were thetwo major issues before us. He also madereferences about our own indigenousmedicine systems like, Ayurveda, Siddaand Unani which were based on plantsand natural products. He noticed thatthere was a great scope and opportunity

lying ahead for the medicinal plants cultivation in India.“About 90 per cent of the herbal exports occur in raw form,which does not validate the profitability issues of the growersand exporters, so value addition should be the core focus”.He stressed on the development of proper agro-techniquesfor medicinal plants, while putting forth the major issues, as

quality assurance, certification issues, standardization andtraceability in medicinal plants.

In his address Mr. M.H Khan, DGCAPART, said that we should work withthe objective of improving the quality oflife in the rural areas, particularly the poorand socially disadvantaged sections ofsociety. CAPART has taken steps in thesedirections. People below the poverty line,people belonging to the scheduled castes

and tribes, bonded labor; women and people with disabilitiesare priority focus groups for CAPART.

Social Leaders GroupDr. Chandan Mitra, Editor, The Pioneer,in his opening remarks said that India stilllived in villages unlike US, where 97 percent are city dwellers and only 3 per centpopulation resided in countryside. He ad-vocated for an approach change in policymaking while keeping in mind the interestof masses and agrarian people intact. He

admitted that agriculture was not getting the media and ulti-mately the general people’s attention, what it deserves. Hestressed that a proactive and positive media could play abetter role for transforming rural economy and agriculturemore vibrant and prosperous with information dissemination,debating the farm topics and subjects and asking public opin-ions about that.

Swami Agnivesh, Social Reformerlambasted government for supporting theMNCs and corporates, and not caringenough for the farming community.“There should be discussions, involvingpoliticians, ministers, farmers,bureaucrats and the corporate to addressthe key issues facing our farmers and

agriculture. He pointed out that agriculture situation was moreor, less similar, what it was during 70’s and 80’s without anyconsideration to farm remuneration. He further added thatwhat sort of development planning we have, when more than7 thousand children die of hunger every day and more sufferfrom malnutrition in different parts of the country. He saidthat there was complete injustice against farm and farmers inIndia and exhorted for a paradigm shift in policy making.

Mr. Sudheendra Kulkarni, Mr. DR Kaarthikeyan, Mr. ChandanMitra and Swami Agnivesh at the Social Leaders Group


Post Event Souvenir

Mr. DR Karthikeyan, former Director CBImentioned that after severe neglect fordecades, agriculture came into limelightdue to the prevailing drought situationand apprehensions of food security. Headded that crops failure for reasonsbeyond ones control, full compensationto farmers should be given by the state.

He said that for the last one decade or so agriculture is in thelimelight for all the wrong reasons than for its role in feedingthe hungry belly and source of livelihood for the majority. MrKarthikeyan emphasized that if, this drought repeatedcontinuously for 2-3 cropping seasons, then farmers’,particularly the small & marginal ones had no option otherthan suicide. He pointed out that the farmers were in greatdistress and there is an urgent need for Government to lend ahelping hand to them. Not just advise farmers, what to grow,but where to sell it, as in case of biofuel and medicinal plants,large number of farmers cultivated, but could not get themarket to sell and had to suffer huge losses.”

Mr. Sudheendra Kulkarni, OSD to formerPM, Sh. Atal Bihari Vajpayee admitted thatsocial leadership has a crucial role to playin influencing farm policies. Without thewelfare of 60% of our population, whichis practicing farming, we can not build ahealthy society. He emphasized for publicprivate partnership in addressing the

issues in farming and exploring the opportunities in farmsector, citing the example of Kutch, where Excel Crop Carehas created appreciable level of rural entrepreneurship,particularly among women. Such models need to be replicatedfor a better tomorrow, advocated Mr. Kulkarni.

Agribusiness CEOs GroupMr Sanjeev Asthana, CEO, Reliance Re-tail Limited said that year by year, freshwater consumption was increasing andthe water availability has to be moder-ated and monitored for the needs of fu-ture generations. He also stressed uponthe mainstreaming of formal education forcapacity building of the farmers.

Dr Simon M Holland, MD&CEO, ZoralyAgri-Solutions Pvt. Ltd. advised to raisethe level of knowledge in agriculture, beit water conservation, pest control or mar-ket linkages for farm produce.

Mr. Mahesh Girdhar, MD, Bayer Bio-science Pvt Ltd. pointed out the need forinfrastructure development by the Gov-ernment for promoting the SEZs in agri-culture to best capitalize on the emergingglobal opportunities in agriculture. Anyincrease in the productivity of rice will beof great benefit to the Asian populationand the whole world, he suggested.Dr Gyanendra Shukla, Director, Monsanto

India Limited emphasized on the need to encourage innova-

tions in agriculture, while dwelling on thebenefits of biotechnology and the prom-ises it hold for the future in terms of pro-ductivity increase, food and nutritionalsecurity. “As the land is limiting day byday, so productivity enhancement is themajor issue before Indian agriculture”, hesaid, while suggesting to make sure that

all available genetic and molecular technologies are used alongwith the conventional methods, to develop varieties with betterclimate resilience against drought, flood, salinity etc. andyielding ability.

Mr Anil Kakkar, CEO, Excel Crop Care Ltd.moderated the session and expressed hisviews for collaborative efforts by the In-dian farmers, scientists, policymakers andcorporates towards addressing the farmissues. He stressed on taking up the col-laborative research in public private part-nership for available resources and

knowledge gained for the development of strains, which canbetter withstand the vagaries of biotic and abiotic limitations.

Officials GroupDr NB Singh, Agriculture Commissioner,Government of India admitted that thisyear will be a very difficult year for Indianagriculture, being severely rain deficient.But he expressed hope that there wassufficient buffer stock for meeting out theshortages as last year there was recordedfoodgrain production of 234 mt. But he

warned that if next year also drought is repeated, then thesituation would be disastrous. “There should be preparednessto face any kind of these adversities to ensure the foodsecurity to the masses. We heavily depend on few states forour food requirements, mainly the rice and wheat to the Punjaband Haryana. The Agriculture Commissioner further addedthat focus needs to be on areas having more potential, whichcould absorb technologies and and produce results. Hestressed that more focus should be given to Eastern India,comprising Eastern UP, Bihar, WB, Assam, Orissa and otherNorth Eastern states for the food production, as still theywere unutilized and are a rich treasure trove of naturalresources, water and fertile soil, and the future of food


Post Event Souvenir

production lied there. He said that all types ofinterventions can be made in those areas to makesuccess the food security mission. “Meticulousplanning is needed for invigorating the Indianagriculture and for that new innovativetechnologies should be included from time to time”commented the commissioner.

Dr T Ramasami, Secretary,DST, Government of Indiamentioned that leadersshould learn from past, planfor the future and execute inthe present. “In India,agriculture is dependent onthe natural vagaries, and thus

technology should go with nature. Climaticadaptation is the major issue, in view of climate change withthe problems like, drought, flood, salinity etc., and thus thedevelopment of weather resilient system becomes the need”added Dr. Ramasami. He stressed for preparedness for extremeweather situation to tackle any eventualities. He further added“Quality assessment of soils, using the GIS system andforecasting system should be made more reliable. Tools andtechnologies needed to be developed to adopt and mitigatethe problems of climate change”.

Mr UN Panjiar, Secretary, Ministry ofWater Resources, Government of Indiaexpressed that the summit was of muchrelevance to the current scenario withMonsoon, Climate Change andAgriculture as its theme of discussion.“Among 36 meteorological subdivisions,32 have been deficient in rainfall, i.e.,

almost two third of total country is under drought trap. GOIhas started number of steps to address the problems”, hesaid. Mr. Panjiar admitted that in Indian agriculture, the labourproductivity was low when compared to other sectors, so ithas to be raised to achieve the projected growth rate of 4per cent. “Expansion of irrigation and adoption of efficientpractices can go a long way in productivity enhancement.India has only 61mha (40 per cent of total cultivated land)area under assured irrigation, which shows the potential forincreasing the irrigation. Whereas, the ultimate irrigationpotential stands at 140 mha with 76 mha by surface irrigationsources and 64 mha utilizing the Ground water resources”said Mr. Panjiar. He recommended that the ultimate irrigationpotential can be enhanced by interlinking rivers andtransferring the water from the surplus river basin to thedeficit areas. Mr. Panjiar was of the view that managementof water can be done on priority basis, as we can’t createwater, and in future the water availability in agriculture isgoing to change the food demand and consumption pattern.“Agriculture policies and investments have to be watercentric looking after the hydrological and topographicalconstrains involved” told Mr. Panjiar. He admitted that therehas been sure impact of climate change on the hydrologicalcycle, resulting in temporal and spatial variation in agriculture,and Comprehensive water database development has to be

Mr. UN Panjiar addressing the Summit in the Secretaries Session

done to monitor the situation. Lastly, he said that R&D isanother area of development with the involvement ofUniversities, NGOs, private and other bodies on participatorybasis.

Mr. UP Singh, Secretary- Agriculture,Orissa said, agriculture has lost much ofits charm and no one seems to be interestto work for agriculture. He supported thecause for making the farms remunerativefor the farmers, with easing out ofrestrictions mainly, the marketing glitches.Mr. Singh admitted that the area under

farming is continuously decreasing, due to the rapidurbanization and industrialization He expressed theapprehensions that as the number of people depending onagriculture, remained more or less same, the urral urban incomedivide is set to further widen. He pointed out that the existingyield gap provides major scope to work over and achieve thetargeted yield levels. He further added “Climate change andglobal warming has impacted much the Indian agricultureand the food production, particularly this year with almostfailed monsoon”. He was of the view to enhance theproductivity to the extent of 20-30 per cent by using qualityseeds. Finally, he recommended that rice, horticulture andwatershed development along with the livelihood project tomake the agriculture viable and sustainable.

Mr. RCA Jain, former Secretary -Agriculture, GOI said that we have notlearnt the disaster management in Indiaeven after facing so many catastrophes.He declared the prevailing droughtconditions as a full bloom drought.“Agriculture is the biggest user of waterwith share of 70 per cent at world level

and 80 per cent in India. So, an integrated and adoptiveapproach in water use needed for its judicious and need-based usage”, said Mr. Jain. He added that Micro-irrigationwas the solution for our water woes, and it could saveconsiderable amount of the invaluable water, reduce the totalcost of production, save labour, precise delivery of water tothe root zone and ultimately the productivity gains to theextent of 40-45 per cent.


Post Event Souvenir

The Summit Participants have made valu-able suggestions. These will be compiled andpublished by Shri M J Khan and his ablecolleagues. I would however like to highlighta few essential areas which require immedi-ate and integrated attention to help our farm-ers achieve an ever-green revolution leadingto enhancement of productivity in perpetu-ity without associated ecological harm.Land – Soil health care and enhancementholds the key to successful farming. Mobilesoil testing vans which can issue Soil HealthCards to farmers are urgently needed. Con-servation farming including crop – livestockintegrated farming should become a way oflife to our farm women and men. At the sametime government should provide guidanceon land use planning based upon potentialmeteorological and marketing conditions. Thediversion of prime farm land for non-farmpurposes should be prohibited.Water – Land use decisions are also wateruse decisions. Hence attention to land andwater use must be an integrated one. Anurgent requirement is mandatory rainwater harvesting. Also, we need legislationfor ensuring the sustainable use ofgroundwater. A Pond in Every Farm shouldbecome a National Movement particularlyin rainfed areas. Labour from NREGA couldbe utilized in the case of small and marginalfarmers in drought prone areas for the con-struction of farm ponds which can help toconserve rain water for a crop life savingirrigation and thereby help to strengthennational food security.Agrobiodiversity – Conservation oflandraces and traditional crops are impor-tant in an ear of climate change, since theyare much more tolerant to drought and otheradverse growing conditions. In addition tothe Genome Saviour Award for farm fami-lies who conserve precious agrobiodiversity,there is need for a Breed Saviour Award forrecognizing and rewarding farm families whohave conserved important breeds of farmanimals. Biovilleys linking biodiversity, bio-technology and business can be organized inagro-biodiversity rich areas, as for examplein many areas in eastern and western ghatsand the Himalayas .Climate Management – Both anticipatoryand participatory research and action willbe needed to empower local communities toundertake both adaptation and mitigationmeasures. Proactive action is called for fac-ing the consequences of a rise in tempera-

Indian Agriculture : The Way Forward Closing Address by Prof M S Swaminathan

ture, more frequent occurrence of droughtand flood, ground water depletion pest epi-demics and sea level rise. One women andone male member of every Panchayat shouldbe trained to serve as Climate Risk Manag-ers.Small Farm Management Revolution –Small and marginal farmers comprise over80 percent of our agriculture population. Thefuture of our agriculture will depend uponthe help we give them to improve the pro-ductivity, profitability and sustainability oftheir limited holdings. Climate change willlead to the incidence of pest epidemics, wa-ter shortage and other problems includingthe availability of fodder and feed for farmanimals. Therefore we should develop man-agement tools which can give small and mar-ginal farmers, the economies and power ofscale by helping them to organize either SelfHelp Groups or Cooperatives or Farmers’Companies. This will enable small farmersto have access to appropriate farm machin-ery and implements and thereby enhance thetimeliness and efficiency of farm operations.Post Harvest Technology – There is cur-rently a mismatch between production andpost harvest technologies. We need to paygreater attention to all aspects of harvesting,processing, storage and marketing. The Gov-ernment of India should lose no further timein setting up modern grain storage facilitiesall over the country so that post harvestlosses are eliminated in the case of wheat,rice and other crops intended for the PublicDistribution System. Perishable commodi-ties like fruits, vegetables, meat and milk re-quire cold storage facilities.Special attention to Mahila and YuvaKisans – There is increasing feminizationof agriculture. The recommendations of theNational Commission on Farmers (NCF) for

the empowerment of Mahila Kisans shouldbe implemented in order to help them to dotheir best under conditions where they carrya multiple burden on their time, like homekeeping, child care and economic activities.Similarly, over 70 percent of our rural popu-lation are below 35 years. Educated youthwill be attracted to farming only if farmingbecomes economically rewarding and intel-lectually satisfying. For this purpose, thereis need for a technological upgradation offarm operations. Yuva Kisans should be en-abled to establish Agri-clinics, Agri-businesscentres and bio-parks where the entire bio-mass is converted into value-added prod-ucts. They can set up ICT based GyanChaupals to end the prevailing gap betweenscientific know-how and field level do-how.The National Policy for Farmers - Thispolicy presented in Parliament in Novem-ber 2007 calls for a paradigm shift from astrictly production centred approach to anincome centred approach to farming. Thesmaller the farm the greater is the need formarketable surplus. Therefore, higher pro-ductivity, diversification of agriculture andvalue addition to primary products are allneeded. The National Policy for Farmersshould be implemented in letter and spiritwithout further delay.National Food Security Act - The pro-posed National Food Security Act shoulddeal with not only access to food at afford-able prices, but also availability throughhigher productivity. Absorption of food inthe body also needs attention, for which cleandrinking water is an essential requirement.Special Agricultural Zones (SAZ) – Thereare unique agricultural production zones inour country, like the Indira Gandhi Canalarea in Rajasthan and the Kuttanad region ofKerala. These areas should be developed asSAZ where there is convergence and syn-ergy among all ongoing programmes like theRastriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, Food Secu-rity Mission, Horticulture Mission etc. Theaim should be to maximize the income andemployment generating potential of theseunique ecosystems and preserve them forposterity in a state of high productivity.The above ten point action plan will help toconvert the widespread anxiety on the fu-ture of our agriculture and food security sys-tem, into an opportunity for strengtheningthe technological, ecological, economic, edu-cational and infrastructural foundations ofthe diverse farming systems of our country.


Post Event Souvenir

Key Recommendations of the

Leadership Summit� Given the regulalrity of the occurance of drought

and flood in some part of the country or the otherand the perceptible impact of climate change onagriculture, there is a need for creating instituionalisedmechanism to deal with the situation by creating aNational Centre for Climate Change and Agriculture,which sensitises and educates various stake-holdersin agriculture and coordinates the efforts of all onthe subject.

� Indian agriculture has come a long way since thedays of "Ship to Mouth" to almost self sufficiency inmost of the food grains, despite truant monsoon.But, the sense of pride is missing, as this has beenneglected by the Government, media, industry andcivil society. The efforts of millions of farmers,researchers, extension workers, NGOs and otherstake-holders, who played key roles in thetransformation of Indian agriculture, remain largelyunrecognized at the national level. Therefore, thereis need for the nation to recognize and honor itscontributors by giving Bharat Ratna and more PadmaAwards to agriculture. This will bring the sense ofpride and help develop leadership in farm sector.

� To bring the agriculture agenda to the centre stage ofnational attention and for agriculture to get its due,there should be two hours time twice a weekdedicated to discussions in Parliament on farmers'issues during the Session. Also for a mere 100millions, who travel by railways, there is separatebudget Rail Budget presented in Parliament. For 700millions dependent upon agriculture, there must bean exclusive agenda, focus and discussion onagriculture by presenting a Separate Budget forAgriculture in Parliament. The Budgetary outlay alsoneeds to be enhanced to Rs. 25,000 crores. Specialpriority should be placed on setting up of ruralinfrastructure.

� Agriculture in India, which supports 60% of ourpopulation, can be developed into a strong enginefor economic growth and social transformation. But,due to neglect, it is unable to harness its true potential.India has all the ingredients for an agro-industrialrevolution - man, money and material, but due to

absence of entrepreneurship, there is hardly any valueadded activity at the farm level and 98% of our farmproduce is sold in the raw form, leading too much ofwastages and depriving the farmer of economicreturns. It is therefore recommended that a large scaletraining and entrepreneurship development programsin farm sector with a funding of Rs. 1,000 croresannually to be launched.

� Post WTO, India is integrated to global markets withits risks and opportunities. Either we make best outof it or we yield the ground to market competition.Indian farmers, agribusiness industry and agroexporters need to be extended needful support forenhancing their competitiveness. There is thusimmediate need for India to set up national level WTOCentre on Agriculture, and states level centers bydifferent State Governments to educate farmers andstake-holders on global market scenario andimplications of WTO. Similarly, India needs to appointAgriculture Counselors in major countries, whoshould help increase India's exports of agro productsand facilitate cooperation in food and agriculture.

� Agro-inputs play a major role in agricultureproduction. There needs to be much focus on seedssector by giving faster clearances to new biotechproducts and by creating a Seeds Fund of Rs. 300crore to give philip to seeds research under PPP model.A National Seed & Biotech Regulatory Authority mayalso be set up. Similarly for mechanization and forsmall farm machinery, there should be 50% subsidyfor all farmers so that farming operations can be mademore efficient. Pesticides, which play the crucial roleof crop savior and the usage of which brings farmera cost benefit ratio of 1:5, are however mostneglected, rather discouraged with all sort of taxes.There is need for a more balanced crop protectionpolicy and some incentives to farmers for adoptingeffective crop protection umbrella.

� There is an urgent need for attention to fertilizer usage,as availability of certain crucial nutrients is going tobe a question mark in the years to come. On theother hand with the current usage pattern and pricingpolicy the subsidy on fertilizers is breaking all records.


Post Event Souvenir

As per the data available, we are wasting about 30%fertilizers due to poor application. There is thus needfor a long term policy focused on improving fertilizeruse efficiency and this program of massive scaleshould be launched in a mission mode. We thereforepropose for the launch of the National Soil HealthMission, under which judicious use of fertilizersthrough advanced application technologies to bepromoted by making the entire cultivable land'snutrient profiling. The fertilizer industry needs to bereformed with fewer controls to enable it to play itsrightful role in correcting soil health and improvingnutrient use efficiency.

� Positioning Indian agriculture globally in the wake ofglobalization and leading the pack of developingcountries, India can assist them through cooperationin agriculture. India can assist developing and under-developed countries by providing help in research,extension, education and institution building and thusearn money and also goodwill.

� Structural reforms in agriculture pertaining to landleasing and market restrictions need to be addressed.The market regulation on movement andprocurements by private players is hampering marketgrowth and prices realization by farmers.Corporatization of existing mandis/mandi boards andleaving the role of regulation to government wouldhelp in overcoming many difficulties faced inmarketing of agricultural produce today. Moreover,this separation of conflicting roles would go a longway in attracting investments to modernize theagricultural supply chain. Similarly, due to land leasingpolicies of State Governments the concept of contractfarming is not successful. The experiments ofcontract farming are based on "win all", bringing valueto all partners in operations. This needs to beencouraged on a large scale, especially when industryis gearing up to involve in agriculture on a large scale.

� States profiling of crops and animal resources needsto be done, indexing them against national and globalbenchmarks on cost, quality and productivityparameters, and their short, medium and long termstrategic advantages. Based on this national indexingand estimation of market demands in short, mediumand log terms national farm resource utilizationplanning needs to be done, using a mix of incentivesand dis-incentives. If India has to succeed in globalmarket on a long term basis, this task is unavoidable.

� There are more than 300 channels in India from filmto fashion and from sports to spirituality, but nonefor agriculture. There must be an exclusive DDchannel on agriculture to focus on farmers' issuesand technology transfer. This will bring the muchneeded focus on agriculture as well as create needfulawareness among farmers and stake-holders. But,the running of the channel should be in private handunder Government's funding support.

� With the globalisation of trade and agriculture postWTO, the farm sector is increasingly acquiringinternational dimensions and therefore, theinternational approach need to be adopted inagriculture policy planning with national perspective.Hence, it is most appropriate if agriculture is broughtunder the Concurrent List of Subjects for better policyplanning and effective central Government role inthe development of agriculture production and agrotrade.

� Given the gap in the lab and land results in agriculturein our country, the extension systems needs to bereoriented with effective participation of privatesector, which alone can respond to the dynamic needsof the agriculture sector. There are many successmodels of PPP in agriculture extension, which canbe emulated. The concept needs to be practiced withGovernment funds routed through the serious privateplayers for effective delivery and measurable results.

� Given the importance of agriculture in the total IndianEconomy and large number of engagement of ruralpopulation, the need to reintegrate crop basedagriculture and live stock animal husbandry practiceshas been emphasized. The current budgetaryallocation of financial resources on crop basedagriculture and live stock animal husbandry is quitedisproportionate and we need the National Missionon Livestock.

� India has a great potential to provide the food basketconsisting of cereal, grains, meat, milk, egg andfisheries products and offer the great exportopportunity and thus increase our contribution from2-10% in global food processing production by 2015.Task Force set up for this performance must examinethe potential areas and evolve a working road map toachieve the 10% contribution level. This can createtremendous employment opportunity for the ruralmasses and the social problem arising out ofeconomic downturn would be eliminated.


Post Event Souvenir


Post Event Souvenir


Post Event Souvenir

Group photograph of the recipients of Agriculture Leadership Awards 2009 with the Chief Guest, Dr. Montek SinghAhluwalia, Dy. Chairman, Planning Commission

The 2nd Agriculture Leadership Awards were presented on 4th September, 2009 at Taj Palace, New Delhi to twenty oneindividuals and institutions for their outstanding contributions to Indian agriculture and rural society.Agriculture Leadership Awards, instituted by Agriculture Today in 2008 to recognizes the leadership roles played by indi-viduals and institutions, who are positively impacting the lives of farmers and rural masses. The award committee for 2009 washeaded by Dr AR Kidwai, former Governor of Bihar, West Bengal and Haryana, and had an eminent panel of jury.Hon’ble Governor of Haryana Dr. AR Kiwai chaired the gracious occasion and awards were presented by Dr Montek SinghAhluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Government of India. In his address, Dr. Ahluwalia congratulated Agri-culture Today team for arranging the award ceremony. He noted that there were very little opportunities for recognition of thekey contributors to the country’s spectacular progress in agriculture. Agriculture Today has bridged the gap significantly. Hewas also pleased to find so many distinguished personalities present at the ceremony. He pointed out that agriculture haddeveloped a fair amount of dynamism between the year 1970 and 1990, which was lost in the way; but in the last few years alot of attention has started to come back to agriculture. Dr. Ahluwalia stressed for agriculture diversification and also theentire linkages between farmers and consumers, which he termed very important. He said the Planning Commission was doinga mid term appraisal and it will try to find a few answers. He also commented that the delivery system of agriculture was ledby states and hence when more and more states gave priority to agriculture, the results were sure to be excellent.

2nd Agriculture Leadership Awards2nd Agriculture Leadership Awards2nd Agriculture Leadership Awards

2nd Agriculture Leadership Awards


Post Event Souvenir

Dr. Balram JakharPolicy Leadership Award 2009Born in a farming family in Panjkosi village in Ferozepur districtof Punjab in 1923, Dr. Jakhar graduated from Christen College,Lahore in 1945. After his education, he got involved in farmingat his village, when he got elected to Punjab Legislative Assemblyin 1972 and became Deputy Minister of Cooperation andIrrigation in 1973. He was re-elected in 1977 and served as theLeader of Congress Legislature and the Leader of Oppositiontill 1979. Dr. Jakhar was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980 andgot rare distinction of first timer Parliamentarian beingunanimously elected to the coveted office of the Speaker LokSabha, which he held from 1980 till 1985. He became the first Asianto be elected as the Chairman of the Executive Committee of theCommonwealth Parliamentary Association in 1984 and held thisoffice till 1987. He got re-elected to the Lok Sabha from Sikar in 1984 and again adorned the coveted officeof the Speaker – Lok Sabha from 1985 – 1989. Dr. Jakhar was 3rd time elected to the Lok Sabha in 1991from Sikar and became Union Agriculture Minister, and served full term till 1996. As Agriculture Ministerhe took many landmark decisions and solidly stood for the cause of farmers in WTO negotiations. Apracticing farmer, a champion of farmers cause as the Life time President of Bharat Krishak Samaj, anactive politician and an able administrator, Dr. Jakhar worked for the interest of farmers and agricultureduring his six decades of career. He is honoured by the Honarary Doctorate by the Haryana AgricultureUniversity, Indian Veterinary Research Institute and Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar. Dr.Balram Jakhar is today the most visible face of farmers and Indian agriculture.

The Energy and Resources InstituteEnvironment Leadership Award 2009The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), a dynamic and committed organization with aglobal vision and a local focus entangles itself in activities that extend from formulating localand national-level strategies to suggesting global solutions to critical energy and environment-related issues. Deeply committed to every aspect of sustainable development, the efforts ofTERI in the field of developing technologies for agriculture extents to different aspects relatedto the present day agricultural practices. TERI’s scientific adventures have yielded many solutionsto the devouring problems of unsustainable agricultural practices. Their scientific interventions

include biopesticide formulation ‘Bollcure’ for managingbollworm infestation in cotton and microbial strains ofSphingomonas paucimobilis and Arthrobacter protophormiaeRKJ100 for bioremediation of soils contaminated withsome classes of pesticides. Their research interests alsocover developing better quality varieties,micropropagation, molecular characterization,improving nutritional quality of food crops, transgeniccrops for viral resistance and mycorrhiza among manyother things. TERI, with its vision of global sustainabledevelopments, has through its activities made a hugeimpact on environment, truly donning the mantle of atrue leader.

Dr. Balram Jakhar recieving the Policy LeadershipAward from Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia inpresence of Dr. AR Kidwai and Mr. MJ Khan

Dr. Vibha Dhawan, Director recieving the Award.TERI gets Environment Leadership Award.



Post Event Souvenir

Sir Ratan Tata Trust gets CSR Leadership Award.Ms. Vartika Jaini recieving the Award

Sir Ratan Tata TrustCSR Leadership Award 2009Sir Ratan Tata Trust was set up in 1918 under the will of SirRatan Tata, the younger son of Sir Jamsetji Tata, founder of theTata Group. Through his will and his own philanthropy,particularly his grants to India’s freedom movement andbuilding youth involvement in public life in India, Sir Ratandesired that the Trust support those initiatives which wereinnovative, accountable and non sectional. Guided by hisvision and an eminent Board of Trustees, the Trust continuesthis effort to engage with focus areas within Rural Livelihoods& Communities, Education, Enhancing Civil Society &Governance, Health and Arts & Culture. Besides institutionalgrants, the Trust also makes individual grants for education and medical relief. Today, the Trust partnerswith over 250 institutions across 18 states within India in high quality development projects. Supportedby external expertise and strong systems of project design and monitoring, these projects strive to impactquality of life of communities. Its ongoing Strategic Plan has identified ‘Regaining Agricultural Dynamism’and ‘Inclusive Growth’ as prioritized focus areas within the Rural Livelihoods portfolio. Consequently,the Trust supports several projects that comprehensively engage with core development issues ofagriculture, land and water use and development and access to finance. Through meaningful partnershipsand engaging with worthy organisations, the Trust is constantly redefining the role of traditional charityand contributing to sustainable development of rural communities.

Indian Agricultural Research InstituteResearch Leadership Award 2009Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), popularly known as Pusa Institute, is the flagshipinstitute of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Playing a key role in transformingagricultural research, education and extension in India, IARI provides national leadership in con-ducting basic, strategic and need-based applied research in crop improvement, protection, productionand overall economic welfare of Indian farmers. IARI played a significant role in consolidating thegains of green revolution. IARI provides national leadership in enhancing crop productivity. Wheat

varieties of IARI contribute more than 40% of annual wheatproduction of the country. Basmati rice research revolution-ized the farmers’ economy. Chickpea, mung bean and mus-tard varieties of IARI have become very popular among thefarmers. IARI has also made excellent contribution in the fieldof horticulture, Plant protection, resource management, policyresearch and technology transfer. IARI has also played theleadership role in agricultural education in India by impart-ing post-graduate research academic training and human re-source development, which is recognized globally for qualityand standards. IARI’s research initiatives have, thus, not onlyhelped the country to attain and maintain its food securitybut have also helped Indian farmers in improving their eco-nomic conditions, and that has strongly impacted the lives ofrural masses.

IARI gets Research Leadership Award. Dr. HSGupta, Director, receiving the Award



Post Event Souvenir

Prof. Panjab SinghResearch Leadership Award 2009Prof. Panjab Singh, an accomplished Agronomist and researchand education administrator, pioneered the research in thearea of natural resources management. His landmark achieve-ment of establishing more than 120 Regional Agriculture Re-search Stations in different parts of the country under ICARNational Agricultural Research Project during late 70’s tillmid 80’s, substantially strengthened India’s agricultural re-search infrastructure. His prowess in administration is quitedistinct from his contributions as Director of Indian Agricul-ture Research Institute where his measured approach helpedin enhancing the quantum and quality of research outputand human resource development. In his tenure as Director General, ICAR & Secretary, Department ofAgriculture Research and Education, Govt. of India, he was provided unmatched leadership in gener-ating resources, promoting infrastructure and building human resource at the national level. He wasalso active in the agriculture education in India in the capacity of Vice Chancellor of three prestigiousuniversities in the country. As Vice Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University, he took a major step ofsetting up a new campus of BHU in the tribal belt of Vindhyan region at Barkachha (Mirzapur),thereby providing access to technical and professional education to a large section of less privilegedpopulation.

Dr. Panjab Singh, former DG ICAR, receiving theResearch Leadership Award

Prof. Ram Badan SinghResearch Leadership Award 2009Prof. RB Singh, an outstanding researcher, had an illustrious career that portrayed his essence ofleadership in improving agrarian livelihood, food, nutrition and ecological security. During his fivedecades of service to the agriculture sector, he provided leadership in cutting-edge research and technologydevelopment, in higher education and human resources development and in policy and programmeformulation, execution and appraisal; each pursued in national, continental and global capacities. Ageneticist by profession, Prof. Singh made important contributions in the fields of Genetics, Plant Breedingand Biotechnology. In recognition of his immense contribution to new knowledge, human resource

capital and the science-led transformation of agriculturetowards the alleviation of hunger and poverty in India and theAsia Pacific Region, Prof R.B. Singh was awarded the PadmaBhushan in 2003 by the President of India – one of India’shighest civilian honours that recognizes distinguished serviceto the Nation. He has also held many covetous positions suchas Member of the National Commission on Farmers (2004 - 06),Assistant Director General of FAO and Regional Representativefor Asia and the Pacific from 2000 to 2002, Chairman of theAgricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (1999 - 2000),Director of the prestigious Indian Agricultural ResearchInstitute (IARI), New Delhi (1995 - 99) and Dean, Head ofDepartment, Sr. Professor & Chair/Member Executive Councilat leading Universities (1964 - 1979).

Dr. RB Singh, former ADG - FAO (Asia Pacific),receiving the Research Leadership Award



Post Event Souvenir

The National Dairy DevelopmentBoardDevelopment Leadership Award 2009The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was foundedin 1965 to replace exploitation with empowerment, traditionwith modernity, stagnation with growth; and transformingdairying into an instrument for the development of India’s ru-ral people. NDDB which began its operations with the missionof making dairying a vehicle to a better future for millions ofgrass-root level milk producers, achieved great momentum withthe launching of “Operation Flood”, a programme extendingover 26 years and which contributed to India’s emergence asthe world’s largest milk producing nation. Since its inception,the Dairy Board has spearheaded India’s dairy programmes by placing dairy development in thehands of milk producers and the professionals they employ to manage their cooperatives. In addition,NDDB also promotes other commodity-based cooperatives, allied industries and veterinary biologicalson an intensive and nation-wide basis. A commitment to help rural producers help themselves, hasguided the Dairy Board’s work philosophy for more than 40 years. NDDB played its seminal roletowards the achievements made by cooperative dairies in milk production, employment generation, percapita availability of milk, foreign exchange savings and increased farmer incomes.

Agriculture Insurance Company of India LimitedDevelopment Leadership Award 2009Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited (AIC), created to promote crop insurance as animportant risk mitigation tool, administers National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) on behalfof the Government of India, which is implemented in 25 States and two Union Territories. The scheme’sacceptability among the farmers has been phenomenal, insuring crops of 1.91 crore farmers, makingit the world’s largest crop insurance programme in terms of the number of farmers covered. Armedwith in-depth knowledge of crop insurance, AIC also introduced crop insurance products using

different insurance models. These models, besides area yieldindex, also include other index programs like weather index& satellite imagery based crop health index; and combina-tions of various models. With a view to provide the farmerswith one more option to insure their crops, AICoperationalised a Pilot Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme(WBCIS), which is a unique weather based crop insurance.With the increase in farming risks, farmers find in AIC a reli-able safety net to rely upon. And the organization has stoodthe test in its outreach, efficacy and delivery to emerge theworld’s largest crop insurance company.

Mr. Ravi Shankar, NDDB Board Member recievingthe Award. NDDB gets the DevelopmentLeadership Award.

Mr. M Prasad, Managing Director recieving theAward. Agriculture Insurance Company gets theDevelopment Leadership Award.



Post Event Souvenir

Dhanuka Agritech LimitedDevelopment Leadership Award 2009Dhanuka Agritech Limited, the umbrella company forthe business of Agro-Chemicals, Fertilizers, and Seeds,reaches out to more than 10 million farmers with itseco-friendly high quality crop care products. The Agri-Division has a pan-India presence through its marketingoffices in all major states in India. With a dealer networkof 15,000 across India, the Group has been able to make“Dhanuka” the preferred choice of farmers. With thepromotion of DKKNT (Dhanuka Kheti Ki Nai Takneek)and the Group’s focus on extension activities coupledwith strong R&D setup, Dhanuka has become ahousehold name in the farming community across the country. The company has collaboratedwith many international companies, which has helped them to add new eco friendly qualityagri products in its range, esp. the world class weedicides for crop specific applications.The company has to its credit the privilege of initiating the first public-private partnershipproject in agriculture in with the Government of Madhya Pradesh at Hoshangabad. Thisunique PPP project has strengthened the agriculture related extension activities and increasedthe productivity and profitability of farmers in the district by over 30%, as independentlyaudited.

Plastindia FoundationDevelopment Leadership Award 2009Plastindia Foundation, the Apex body of major Associations, Organisations, and Institutionsconnected with plastics, was established with common objectives to promote the developmentof plastics industry and to assist the growth of plastics and related materials and their products.A foundation dedicated to the national progress through plastics is an internationallyrecognized organization devoted to promoting excellence in the field of plastics. The body

has been actively involved in enhancing the image andthe growth of Indian Plastics Industry by holding world-class exhibitions in India at regular intervals. They haveserved as a catalyst for growth to the plastics industryand prepared plans and actions for up-gradation ofquality, environment-friendliness and recycling withinthe plastics industry. During the numerous exhibitionsorganized by the foundation, they have dedicatedpavilion featuring plasticulture which displays the useof plastics in agriculture. The demonstration is aimedto facilitate better yields in agriculture and horticultureproduce and also save and conserve water, a veryimportant need for the future of agriculture sector. Thusthe national role of Plastindia Foundation, is greatlybenefiting Indian agriculture.

Mr. RG Agrawal, Chairman, Dhanuka Agritech Ltd.receiving the Development Leadership Award

Mr. Arvind Mehta, President PlastIndiaFoundation receiving the DevelopmentLeadership Award



Post Event Souvenir

Mahindra & Mahindra LimitedFarm Equipment SectorCorporate Leadership Award 2009Mahindra Tractors is one of the world’s top tractor brandsand is the largest manufacturer of tractors in India withundisputed market leadership since 26 years. Mahindra &Mahindra Limited, Farm Equipment Sector with two largetractors brands Mahindra and Swaraj today enjoys a marketshare of more than 40% in the domestic market. Today it hasa large customer base of 2.1 million satisfied customers. It isalso the only tractor company in the world to win the covetedDeming Application Prize and the Japan Quality Medal, twoof the highest quality accolades. The Sector has also foundsignificant success in the international market. Mahindratractors are present in 38 countries across six continents. Mahindra (China) Tractor Co. Ltd.manufactures tractors for the growing Chinese market and is a hub for tractor exports to the USA andother western nations. Mahindra tractors enhanced its value proposition by entering the agri valuespace by starting an unique initiative of Mahindra Samriddhi, with aim of increasing productivity ofthe farmers through innovative farming techniques. Mahindra tractors has also started a host ofinitiatives such as conserving energy, reducing waste, recycling resources and various other initiativesto protect the environment. The corporate leader’s motto of ushering in prosperity for its customers,dealers, employees, society and all other stakeholders is being accomplished by the unparalleledquality and reach in the market.

Nuziveedu Seeds (Pvt) Ltd.Corporate Leadership Award 2009Nuziveedu Seeds (Pvt) Ltd. (NSL), the largest seed company in India, was established witha progressive vision and solemn objective of developing and providing quality cotton seedsto the farmers at reasonable price. NSL has now emerged as a leader in R & D, productionand marketing of not only cotton hybrid seeds but also the hybrid seeds of other field cropssuch as Corn, Rice, Sunflower, Sorghum, Pearlmillet, and Vegetable crops. With a world

class R&D Centre and dedicated team of breeders, NSLhas initiated work on developing high yielding varietiesand hybrids in Wheat and mustard. NSL is the firstIndian seed company to reach a turnover of Rs. 500Crores in India. This leader of Indian seed industry hasalso set up a Charitable Trust viz., Mandava Foundation,which aims to find solutions for various problems bywhich the agriculture productivity can be increased andthe farming community can be empowered withknowledge. The company has strong national brandequity for providing advanced technology solutions tofarmers through a range of quality seeds and serve thefarmers through a nation wide marketing network andthus contributing to India’s rural prosperity.

Mr. M Prabhakar Rao, MD, Nuziveedu Seeds Ltd.,receiving the Corporate Leadership Award

Mahindra & Mahindra FES gets CorporateLeadership Award. Mr. Anjanikumar Choudhari,

President, recieving the Award



Post Event Souvenir

Bayer BioScience Pvt. LtdCorporate Leadership Award 2009Bayer BioScience Pvt. Ltd, a forerunner in the arena ofseed business in India, is engaged in research,development, production and marketing of high qualityhybrid seeds of field crops for more then 30 years.Realizing the potential of hybrid rice in increasing theproduction and productivity, Bayer pioneered thedevelopment of suitable hybrids by modern innovativebreeding techniques and bringing products able to outyield the existing inbreds by at least 20%. Bayer Bioscienceis also credited with introducing India’s first BLBresistant hybrid rice. Bayer BioScience’s cotton hybridshave been acclaimed by farmers as having unsurpassed fibre quality. Besides rice and cottonhybrids, Bayer has also brought out hybrids of pearl millet and corn. Bayer BioScience’sproducts today enjoy immense brand equity with more than one million farmers and its highproductive quality seeds are sown in approx. 4 million acres of land, across the country yearafter year. The company nurtures a vision to provide farmers the cutting edge technologysolutions with highest quality hybrid seeds, and thus contribute towards seed led agriculturegrowth.

Ayurvet LimitedCorporate Leadership Award 2009Ayurvet Limited, a Dabur Group company, one of India’s leading animal care companiesspecializes in 100% natural & safe herbal products. Ayurvet, has over the years evolvedconsiderably to include in its ambit, innovative health as well as nutritional solutions foracross a range of animal species. The key to success of Ayurvet has been the innovationthat they have strived hard to maintain through intensive research, strictly adhering to theprinciples of Ayurveda. Uncompromising on quality assurance and hence consumer

satisfaction, Ayurvet has elaborated its presence tomore than 21 countries across the globe. Theefficacy and quality of their products are the result ofa well thought-out, planned scientific approach to thecollection of herbs, standardization of ingredients,processing of all the raw materials and properpackaging of formulations. Ayurvet has also forayedin to preservation and propagation of medicinal plantsby self and contract farming of medicinal herbs andtheir propagation by standard techniques like tissueculture. Since inception, Ayurvet has been workingtowards promoting safe and sustainable agricultureand animal husbandry practices.

Mr. Mahesh Girdhar, MD recieving the Award.Bayer Bioscience Pvt Ltd. gets the CorporateLeadership Award.

Mr. MJ Saxena, MD, receiving the CorporateLeadership Award for Ayurvet Ltd.



Post Event Souvenir

Shri Sopan KanchanFarming Leadership Award 2009Shri Sopan Sakharam Kanchan, Chairman ofGrape Growers’ Federation of India, Pune is a stellarexample of leadership and association. An agriculturegraduate from Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Mr.Kanchan went on to become a towering figure inpromoting the cause of farmers and agriculture. Heestablished a network of pre-cooling and cold storageunits in the State of Maharashtra for export of freshfruits and vegetables under the aegis ofMAHAGRAPES, a co-operative marketing body. Hewas also in the forefront of imparting training andknowledge to farmers through interactions and seminars, especially for maximizing theiroutput. He served as a link between farmers and different stakeholders like researchInstitutes, market boards, policy makers and exporters. He worked on transforming grapefarmers from just a producer to become exporter and helped substantially expand theirincomes. He also played critical role in cut flowers project in Pune under the aegis of‘Poona Flowers’, a voluntary organization. Mr. Kanchan is also playing national role inhorticulture development as President, Confederation of Indian Horticulture, Chairman,Poona Grape Growers Coop. Society Ltd., Director, National Horticulture Board, Member,Managing committee, ICAR, Director, MANAGE and Executive Partner, MAHAGRAPESamong many other roles.

Dr. E. VadivelFarming Leadership Award 2009Dr. E. Vadivel, Professor of Horticulture at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and NodalOfficer of Tamil Nadu Precision Farming Project , has empowered the farming communitytechnically, economically and socially through the implementation of the pioneering projecton precision farming, the first of its kind in India at Dharmapuri District in Tamil Nadu. Thetechnical inputs, information and market linkages provided by the university, under theguidance of Dr. Vadivel, the entrepreneurial professor, empowered the farmers to gain better

access to the technology and market; applying less inputsand getting better yields and better prices. Under hisguidance, the farmers empowered themselves to thestatus of incorporating a Public Limited ProducerCompany. The company has realized break even in ashort period of two and half years, which has inspiredthem now to incorporate a ‘Farmer Owned Mega MarketCompany Ltd’. The Union Planning Commission notedthe success of the project and accepted it as flagshipproject to be scaled up across the country. More thantechnology, inputs and procedural issues, the way thefarmers have been developed as ‘ social capital’ by Dr.Vadivel, was the single factor for the success of thisproject.

Mr. Sopan Kanchan, receiving the FarmingLeadership Award

Farming Leadership Award for Dr. E. Vadivelbeing presented by Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia



Post Event Souvenir

Shri Y.C. NandaLife Time Achievement Award 2009Shri Y.C. Nanda, a post graduate from the Delhi School ofEconomics, where he proved his mettle by winning a meritscholarship and securing the first rank in the University. Hechose banking profession, where his career spanned acrossmany reputed banks such as State Bank of India, Reserve Bankof India and NABARD. He was appointed Managing Directorof NABARD in 1998 and subsequently the Chairman in 2000.NABARD made tremendous progress under his leadershipfrom 1998 to 2003. He is considered to be the Father of MICROFinance in India especially the “Self Help Group Bank LinkageProgramme”, which has become the largest and the fastestgrowing micro finance outreach programme anywhere in the world. He has also chaired APRACA(Bangkok) during 1999-2001. In 2004 he was appointed as the Member of the National Commission onFarmers by the Government of India. Shri Nanda has also been a consultant to many Internationalorganizations of repute like the FAO, IFAD, UNOPS, GTZ and national institutions like NCER, SRTTetc. He was also appointed as the Chairman of the working group by the Planning Commission onagriculture credit and credit cooperatives for the formulation of the XI Five Year Plan. Shri Nanda isclosely associated with a number of institutions in the field of micro finance, rural development andseveral management institutes as Trustee/ director, and is today the most recognized and admired faceof India’s rural credit field.

Dr. M. MahadevappaLife Time Achievement Award 2009Dr. Madappa Mahadevappa, an accomplished plant breeder, geneticist and seed scientist ofinternational repute, has made significant contributions to green revolution in India,particularly in rice improvement for having pioneered hybrid rice research in India anddeveloped first rice hybrid that intensified hybrid research in India. His research at IRRI,Philippines focussed on frontier areas like Rice - Ratoon Cropping Pattern and developingvarieties for adverse soils. As an able administrator, he headed prestigious institutions likeAgricultural University, Dharwad and Agriculture Scientists Recruitment Board. In his tenure

UAS, Dharwad bagged ICAR’s Outstanding InstitutionAward in the year 2000. His Eco-friendly PartheniumWeed Management Technology is also widelyacclaimed. Dr. Mahadevappa brought many radicalchanges to national institutions such as ICAR, CSIR,DBT and Commodity Boards. His recently completed“Seed Village Project” impacted 21 districts of Karnatakaenhancing the income of more than 5000 farmers andalso obviating their dependence on spurious and costlyseeds. He has authored twenty books in English andKannada, which have transmitted technologyknowledge to the scientific and farming communities,and significantly contributed towards knowledgegrowth in agriculture at regional and national level.

Mr. YC Nanda, former Chairman, NABARD,receiving the Life Time Achievement Award

Dr. M. Mahadevappa, former Chairman ASRB,receiving the Life Time Achievement Award



Post Event Souvenir

The State of GujaratState Agriculture Leadership Award 2009In recent times, Gujarat has emerged as front runner inachieving higher agriculture growth with 9.6% average,owing to the proactive policies adopted by the stateGovernment. The state’s innovative extension program‘Krishi Mahotsav’ has touched every village transferringknowledge and technology to farmers, thusunderwriting success in enhancing agricultureproduction. Gujarat has emerged as the Cotton Bowl ofIndia. Realizing that water is the lifeline of Agricultureunder the erratic monsoon, Gujarat Government hascreated the largest storage-cum-recharge programwherein nearly three lakh check dams, farm ponds andbandharas have been constructed. The innovative e-Krishi Kiran Program has made SoilHealth Card of farm lands available to 17 lakhs farmers. Moreover, the program has alsocovered all villages for soil health monitoring so that farmers can do sensible nutrientmanagement. Gujarat has extended IT connectivity to each village panchayat under e-Vishwagram Project. Uninterrupted power supply in agriculture under ‘Jyotigram’ hasprovided great relief to farmers. The state has invested heavily in rural roads, HealthCenters, Primary Education and Dairy infrastructure by institutionalized approach enablingthe farmer community to achieve record production in many crops and spreading prosperityto rural areas.

State of SikkimState Leadership Award 2009With a clear goal, policy thrust and dynamic leadership provided by the State Government tothe development of horticulture, Sikkim achieved an increase of over 30%, in the production ofhorticulture since 1994 - 95. The state initiated several plans for promoting fruit cultivationwith focus on non traditional fruits like kiwi and pear and succeeded in reviving the applecultivation at Lachung Valley, after about three decades. The vegetable cultivation also receiveda major shot in the arm with the introduction of hybrid varieties and adoption of improvedtechnologies, including protected cultivation. Sikkim has at present emerged as a front runner

State in Cymbidium orchids with about 20 Ha area underthis flower. Sikkim is the first State in the country aimingto be Organic. More than 8424 hectares area has beenbrought under organic certification. A revolutionaryconcept for water management has been introduced inthis state with construction of community water tanks.East Sikkim has been declared as Agri Expo Zone forFloriculture and the whole of state as AEZ for Gingerand large Cardamom. Commercial mushroom productionis a highly lucrative venture and to promote this sector,an Integrated Mushroom Unit is being set up. The stateleads in cultivation of exotic flower species and outshinesthe rest of the Indian states in the area of developingvalue added horticulture.

Mr. PN Roy Chaudhary, Principal Secretary -Agriculture, receiving the Award for Gujarat State

achieving best growth in agriculture

Mr. Dawcho Lepcha, Minister - Horticulture,receiving the Award for Sikkim State achievingbest performance in horticulture



Post Event Souvenir

The State of MaharashtraThe Best Performing Agriculture State Award 2009Agriculture is an important source of livelihood to the ruralpeople of Maharashtra. The State has taken many farsightedpolicy initiatives, leading to better management of farmresources, cropping diversification under NHM, promotion ofseed production programs, extension reforms, launching soilhealth program, substantially expanding irrigation potentialand strong market linkage system for farm produce, resultinginto farmers taking up diversified cropping systemsand innovative farming models, which have enhanced theirreturns and impacted the rural economy positively. The statehas emerged as the leader in the production of seedless Grapes,banana, mandarin oranges, onion and tomatoes. The state holdsthe distinction of having highest number of poly houses ownedby small farmers for cultivation of flowers. Maharashtra also leads the sugar industry sector with 150 productivecooperative sugar mills. The State has the highest area under drip irrigation and thus stands first in thecountry. It is the first State to adopt Dry Land Farming Technology and a pioneer in Horticulture Developmentthrough EGS to promote higher income & more employment in farming sector. The State is also the torch bearerin Co-operative network.. The State has pioneered many new concepts in precision farming and agri marketingand today has the most diversified farming system. Its achievements assume much significance in thebackdrop that the State has only 18% irrigated land. Besides strong policy initiatives by the State Government,the credit also goes to farmers for their hard work, innovations and entrepreneurial spirit.

Dr. AR KidwaiLife Time Achievement Award 2009A scientist, researcher, author, educationist, scholar and administrator par excellence, Dr. AR Kidwai is adistinguished son of the soil. Born in 1920 in Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh, he joined the freedom struggleunder Mahatma Gandhi in 1930 onwards and actively participated in Quit India Movement in 1942. After hiseducation at Jamia Millia Islamia, University of Illinois and Cornell in USA, Dr. Kidwai served AMU Aligarh asProfessor and Dean, Faculty of Science from 1951 till 1967, when he joined Union Public Service Commission asMember and was quickly elevated and served as Chairman UPSC till 1979, when he was appointed as theGovernor of Bihar and held the office till 1985. He was appointed as the Governor of Bihar the second time in 1993and held the office till 1998. He also held the office of the Governor West Bengal from 1998 – 1999 and the

Governor of Haryana from 2004 – 2009. During this period Dr.Kidwai also served as the Chancellor of Aligarh MuslimUniversity, Chairman of Bombay Mercantile Bank, Chairman ofInstitute of Marketing & Management and the Chairman ofSelection Committee of Scientists Pool, besides holding many otherimportant positions. In all the offices that he served, Dr. Kidwai iscredited for introducing transparency, reforms and takinglandmark decisions. During his stints at UPSC, he took the historicdecision of allowing the examination in all the Indian languages,and not necessarily the English. As Member of ParliamentaryStanding Committee on Agriculture, Dr. Kidwai influenced thepolicies for better outreach of farm credit, marketing linkages,processing and the development of livestock sector. Dr. Kidwaiis rarest of the rare, who served the nation for over six decadeswith highest dedication, integrity and with great distinction.

Dr. AR Kidwai, former Governor of Haryana,receiving Special Award for his contribution tothe agriculture sector

Mr. Prabhakar Deshmukh, Commissioner -Agriculture, receiving the Award for MaharashtraState achieving overall best performance inagriculture


Documents

Souvenir