New Delhi: “Indian agricultural sector is facing a number of challenges. On one hand, there are challenges to feed a growing population, on the other hand, our farmers are facing challenges due to the limited availability of natural resources along with increasing pressure on agricultural land. The problems emerging due to climate change and consequent to it the adverse circumstances are clear on the scenario. However, the govt is working in a fast track in this direction.” stated the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Mr Radha Mohan Singh on the inauguration of National Workshop organized on Indian Green Agricultural Project on August 11, 2016 at Delhi.
Mr Singh said that the fifth national report submitted in Bio-Diversification Summit by India indicates that there is an acute pressure on the productivity potential of land in various pockets of the country due to the extension in the area of agriculture and continuous use of the land. This pressure owes its existence particularly due to deforestation, disintegration of forest areas, eradication of wet land and conversion of meadows into agricultural sector. This has solved the problem of foodgrain to some extent, however, it has triggered a scarcity in bio diversification. It has also posed a challenge for the survival of wild life as well as human beings.
For the first time, Global Environment Facility (GEF) has approved the project related to Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on the subject “to obtain revolutionary change on the strategies and methodologies for sustainable agriculture in India” to implement it in a various parts of five states viz Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa and Mizoram. A sum of 37 million dollars (Rs 250 crores) would be incurred on this project which India has achieved in the form of grant-in-aid. This project will be implemented by the Agriculture Departments of the States within the span of seven years.
The GEF was started in India in 1991 with mandate to resolve problems related to global environment. It provides financial support for environmental improvements. The span of GEF is for five years which reflects sustainable agriculture development, land degradation, bio diversification and sustainable forest management because it is directly related to the adaptation of climate change process.
The green workshop was organized under the joint efforts of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change as well as Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Among the dignitaries presents in this workshop were Secretary, DAC and FW, Mr S K Pattanayak, DG, ICAR and Secretary DARE, Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Joint Secretary, DAC AND FW, Mr R B Sinha and Indian representatives of United Nations’s, Food and Agriculture Organization Dr Shyam Khadka.
