Youth must take up farming, allied activities: Dhankhar

Hyderabad: Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar has said that farmers must be involved in marketing their produce so they can reap benefits. Addressing at Krishi Vigyan Kendra located at Tuniki during a meeting with organic farmers on Wednesday, the Vice-President observed that farmers must market their own produce. Dhankhar said that the younger generation of the farming fraternity should be involved in agricultural and marketing activities.

He called upon the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), other research institutes, and universities to study how best the farmers could add value to their produce. He expressed his concern saying that agriculture was not transforming though there were agriculture research institutes and scientists in the country. He interacted with organic farmers after going through the products exhibited by them during the programme.

Saying that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared December 23 as National Farmer’s Day in 2001 honouring former Prime Minister Charan Singh, he said that the Union government is going to celebrate the silver jubilee celebrations next year by involving 730 KVKs, 150 ICAR institutes, Universities, and other institutes. Dhankhar said that the officials must ensure the fruits of welfare schemes should reach the farmer’s fraternity. He said that everyone should play a role in achieving the goals of Viksit Bharat-2047.

The Vice-President said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the ‘vocal for local’ slogan inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s Swadeshi Movement. Stating that India will emerge as the third biggest economy soon, he said the farming fraternity must also contribute to India’s growth. Governor Jishnu Dev Varma, Minister Konda Surekha and others were present.