Business
Modi launches DD Kisan channel, calls for big change in agriculture
New Delhi, May 26
Calling for a "big change" in
agriculture, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched the DD
Kisan channel and pitched for increasing average productivity of paddy
to three tonnes per hectare from the present two tonnes.
Launching
the channel on the first anniversary of his government, Modi said the
agriculture sector had been "neglected" and there was need to make the
sector "vibrant".
He said 50 percent of farmers would not know if there is an agricultural department of the government.
"There is need for a big change in agriculture... It has been left to the fate of farmers," he said.
Modi
said that if the country has to move forward, villages must make
progress and if villages are to progress, it was essential for
agriculture to grow.
Modi, who was repeatedly cheered by the
gathering during his nearly 45-minute speech, gave many suggestions to
boost farm income.
"Agriculture should be divided into three
parts. Try this experiment and agriculture can be self-sufficient. Keep
one-third of field for traditional agriculture, one-third for animal
husbandry and one-third for timber," he said.
He said the country
has to import timber but lakhs of hectares of land has been wasted due
to fences erected by people along their fields.
"Plant timber
trees (instead of a fence). Plant them when a girl child is born and cut
them when she gets married," he said, adding that the sale of this wood
will meet expenses for the girl's marriage.
He said there was a
time when agriculture was the most preferred profession but the
situation has changed and it was now regarded below service and
business.
Modi said if modern technology was taken to the fields,
the youth of the country will be again connected to agriculture and
provide a new momentum to the economy.
The prime minister said the country's population was rising and the only way to ensure food security was to boost productivity.
"At
present, the average paddy productivity in India is two tonnes per
hectare whereas the global average is three tonnes per hectare. We will
have to think how we can reach the global average. It looks small (step)
but is a difficult task," he said.
He also pitched for competition among the sub-divisions in the country about good agriculture practices.
Modi
gave credit to late prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri for the country
gaining self-sufficiency in food after being dependent on imports in the
first few years after independence.
"Lal Bahadur Shastri ji gave a mantra 'Jai Jawan Jai Kisan', and the farmer of the nation got inspired by that mantra," he said.
Noting that India imports pulses and oilseeds, he said the country should attain self-sufficiency in their production.
He
said farmers can benefit the most from information on weather being
obtained through satellites and asked DD Kisan to provide regular
updates so that it becomes a habit with farmers.
Modi said the
channel should also inform farmers about global markets so that they can
take informed decisions about the crops they sow.
He suggested
that the channel can start competitions about best agricultural
practices by inviting farmers and facilitate video-conferencing about
innovations so that these can be replicated across the country.
Prasar Bharati chairman A. Surya Praskah said the channel was an idea of the prime minister.
He said the channel was in Hindi but the best programmes would be dubbed in regional languages.
Minister
of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore
said the first programme of the government on its first anniversary was
dedicated to farmers.