Modi for increasing farm output, raising farmers income by taking lab to land

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that the government's policy should be focussed on increasing the farmers' income and asked scientists to take scientific technology to the field for raising crop productivity.

Expressing concern over high import of cooking oil and pulses, he said scientists should help increase its productivity for reducing the country's import dependence.

"We have to prove two points. One is our farmers are capable to feed the whole country and world, and second agriculture is capable of filling the pockets of our farmers," Modi said while addressing the 86th foundation day of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

The Prime Minister was of the view that if enough income is not generated for farmers it could be challenging to achieve the targets in the sector. "Therefore our policies and actions should be focussed on this," he said.

He laid emphasis on the need to take scientific technologies to the agriculture field to boost farm production and meet growing food demand. He emphasised on the need for water conservation through rain harvesting and other measures in view of changing water and weather cycle.

Modi said there was a need to increase crop yield at a faster pace without compromising on the quality.

He also called for blue revolution similar to green and white revolutions, saying the fisheries sector has great potential in the international trade.

Additionally, the Prime Minister asked scientists to focus on herbal medicines as was being done in China.

He suggested agriculture universities to set up their own radio stations to provide extensive services to farmers.

Modi asked ICAR to start planning for celebrating the organisation's 100th foundation day by setting specific targets and exhorted them to achieve more in the next 14 years than what was done in the last 86 years.