India’s Ambition Should Be To Transform Agriculture Into Lucrative Business Enterprise: Amitabh kant
India's G-20 Sherpa, Amitabh Kant on Monday said that India’s ambition should be to transform agriculture, the agri-food sector into a very attractive and lucrative modern business enterprise.
While speaking at the G-20 India Agri-tech Summit 2023 Kant said, "This needs to be done by keeping the farmers at the core of this digital revolution, by facilitating affordable access to an inclusive digital infrastructure and by exploring digital tools that cater to the needs of the agri sector."
He added that transforming the agriculture sector into a data-driven, smart and adaptive to climate change is integral to the transformation of the agriculture sector.
This, he mentioned would entail focusing on aspects like open access agricultural data platforms and recognising them as global public goods while co-opting startups and responsible investments from the private and public sectors for enhancing the welfare of farmers, especially small and marginal farmers.
Emphasising the need to create a harmonious database, Kant said, “The creation of a dynamic database that seamlessly interwinds precise information about farmers' characteristics and agriculture sector statistics, with a wealth of supplementary information encompassing weather patterns, demand and supply dynamics, market trends, and much more, has the potential to empower our farmers to make informed decisions. The implications of such a harmonised database extend far beyond mere convenience.”
Kant added that stakeholders across various domains, including the policymakers and experts who steer the trajectory of our progress, would find themselves empowered by key insights delivered through this data-sharing network.
