FICCI held its Virtual Agriculture Summit and Awards ceremony recently. Leaders of the agro-food industry, academicians, researchers, financial institutions, NGOs and others attended the summit “Envisioning Smart and Sustainable Agriculture”.
A host of dignitaries like Dr Ashok Dalwai, CEO, NRAA, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India and Dr Sudhanshu, Secretary, APEDA expressed their thoughts on sustainable agriculture and the importance of considering the opinions of the various stakeholders involved, starting from the farmers, to consumers to the ecology.
“In this transformation of agriculture in the last seven decades, starting from the Green Revolution to the White Revolution, and now leading to sustainable agriculture, the agricultural policies by the government, supported by the stakeholders, we have now come to a stage where from being a net importer, we have become a leader in agricultural production and now play an active role in agri-exports,” Dr Sudhanshu said.
Sanjay Sacheti, Co-Chair, FICCI National Agriculture Committee & Executive Director & Country Head, Olam Agro India said that sustainable agriculture has two aspects – farmer livelihoods, and promoting resource use efficiency in agriculture “There is a huge opportunity in commodity value chains where industry participates through appropriate risk-taking and with the right level of entrepreneurship,” he said.
In the summit, SLCM received the prestigious Sustainable Agriculture Award 2021 for its one of a kind “AgriReach” process management system. The system has reduced the “post-harvest” losses to 0.5% for warehouse facilities under SLCM control.
SM Sehgal Foundation bagged an SAA 2021 for Climate Resilient Agriculture Development. The foundation promotes livelihoods by assisting the capacity-building of farmers on improved agricultural practices and latest technologies.
The participants spoke on reducing food waste, increasing shelf life, and connecting to markets. TR Kesavan, Chairman, FICCI National Agriculture Committee & Group President, TAFE Ltd, said that cutting down wastage at the farm gate is the first step to sustainability. The second part of sustainability is to preserve what you grow. “India can be a food bowl for many countries. The Central government has done a lot to change the agricultural policies that have added phenomenal strength to agriculture,” he noted.
