People, particularly youngsters, returning to agriculture: ICAR

COIMBATORE: A data being collected by Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) has revealed that people, particularly youngsters, are of late returning to agriculture, a top ICAR official said on Sunday.

"Use of Information and Communication Technology tools in the field of agriculture is driving more people to this sector, Dr S Ayyappan, Director General,ICAR, told reporters on the sidelines of valedictory of 4-day Agriintex-2011 here.

"Agriculture should be made an attractive and exciting proposition. Gone are the days of sustainable agriculture. We are more concerned about resilient farming today," he said.

On the more numbers of suicides happening in agriculture sector, Ayyappan said that it was not farming but the size of holding that was not remunerative.

Stating that around 140 million people were holding 130 million acres in India, he said that these holdings were highly fragmented and input-use was completely disorganised.

ICAR has promoted 10 business development projects, as part of incubator initiatives and 51 value chains have been in place, which are one of its kind in the entire World, covering the entire value chain from seed to market.

Earlier addressing the valedictory function of Agri-intex, jointly organised by Coimbatore District Small Industries Association and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, the official urged the participants to display their products at the annual exhibition at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. He also lauded the University for bagging the Best Institution Award for the year 2011, instituted by ICAR.