RAIPUR,CG: Chhattisgarh farmers from various districts emphasized on the need for an integrated plan, addressing transportation issues in agriculture, ensuring fair prices for produced crops, and publicizing information on Central Government’s farmer welfare schemes.

The farmers were vocal during the discussion under the consultative program at New Circuit House organised by Chhattisgarh NITI Aayog. The deliberations and consultation is for preparation of the Chhattisgarh Vision Document 2047. Number of youth, farmers, women, and intellectuals shared their visions for a Developed India and a Developed Chhattisgarh.

The farmers from across the state provided numerous suggestions on various issues, including agricultural and food processing, horticultural crops, and improvements in agricultural infrastructure, to transform Chhattisgarh into a powerhouse of agriculture and processed super-foods in the country.

Finance Minister O. P. Chaudhary, initiating the discussion emphasized that the experience and knowledge in the respective fields could significantly contribute to the nation and state’s progress.

In-depth deliberations were held regarding establishment of a robust brand for forestry products, implementing food processing technologies, skill enhancement, investing in infrastructure, increasing crop yields, and focusing on horticulture for producing value-added products.

Farmers suggested increasing the number of agricultural service centres, expanding the size of agricultural holdings, developing a land consolidation plan, promoting crop rotation, providing adequate credit facilities, conducting soil tests, and developing Chhattisgarh as a hub for herbs and forest produce. They also recommended creating forest produce trade centres, establishing infrastructure for storage, processing, and transportation, empowering farmers through state government initiatives, strengthening minor forest produce, ensuring adequate water and irrigation availability, improving livestock management, increasing per-acre agricultural income, and enhancing government subsidies.

The document should also include the efficient use of agricultural land, increasing the potential for intercropping, enhancing the average monthly income of agricultural families, providing better credit facilities for farmers, requiring advanced technology, and implementing precision farming to boost productivity and capacity.

Suggestions were also made to invest in agricultural research and development, focus on skill development and training programs, strengthen organic farming, the food distribution system, and cold storage facilities, and maximize value addition in every crop, increase income from agriculture-related activities, open new markets domestically and internationally, establish export centres, training laboratories, nurseries, and run digital and financial literacy campaigns. They also proposed promoting global trade, capacity building under ‘Van Dhan Shakti Yojana’, empowering the tribal community through government committees, and promoting government markets, PPOs, and government committees.