Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Shri Narendra Singh Tomar has said that the Government is committed to doubling farmers’ incomes by the year 2022 and has taken several important initiatives in this direction through various schemes and programmes.

He was speaking at the inauguration through video conference of the newly constructed guest house of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) at Gouria Karma near Barhi in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, and naming of its new administrative and academic building after Late Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee on his birth anniversary on 6th July 2020. On this occasion, Shri Tomar said that Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee dedicated his life to the unity and integrity of the country, gave the call for one nation-one law and sacrificed his life in Kashmir.

The Union Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare Minister said that the 16-point action plan announced in the Budget 2020-21 and new legal provisions would help to achieve the target of doubling farmers’ incomes. He stressed on the need to liberalize agricultural markets, make agriculture competitive, providing handholding to agriculture-based activities and adopt stable agricultural practices and maximum new technology.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has announced several new schemes under Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan, including Rs. 1 lakh crore infrastructure fund for the agriculture sector. Growth packages have also been announced for fisheries, animal husbandry, herbal farming, bee-keeping etc. which will ensure the progress of all categories of farming activities. These initiatives will help to make possible all-round national development along with development of the agriculture and rural sectors.

Union Ministers of State for Agriculture, Shri Purushottam Rupala and Shri Kailash Choudhary, Director General of ICAR Dr. Trilochan Mahapatra, Director of IARI Dr. A.K. Singh and other officers, scientists and farmers participated in the video-conference.