Shivraj Singh Chouhan asks states to meet farm targets on time; warns against ‘eating, meeting and sitting’

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday directed southern states to complete their agricultural targets within stipulated timelines, stressing that regional conferences must result in measurable action rather than remain limited to discussions.

“The Centre and the states are one agriculture team. Our scientists, our farmers, officers of the Central and state governments, all together form one agriculture team. We must work together,” Chouhan said while addressing the concluding session of the Regional Agriculture Conference for Southern States in Hyderabad.

Chouhan said states would have to deliver on commitments made during the conference, including deadlines for Farmer ID generation and other components of AgriStack.


“If we come for a day, eat, meet and sit, and do nothing beyond that, it would amount to cheating the people. That is not what we want. We have to deliver results,” he said.

Push for Farmer ID, AgriStack

The minister said Telangana and Karnataka had crossed 75% completion in Farmer ID generation, while Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands needed to accelerate the process.

He also said Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands had completed their Digital Crop Survey.

Chouhan stressed that Farmer IDs would form the basis of several agricultural systems in the coming years and directed states to complete the work within the prescribed deadlines.

He also called for faster linking of land parcels with farmer registries, particularly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and asked states to notify standard operating procedures for tenant farmers, including sharecroppers and agricultural tenants.

Bharat Vistar to expand to 13 languages

Chouhan said the government’s Bharat Vistar platform would be expanded from Hindi and English to 13 regional languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

The platform is intended to allow farmers to seek agricultural advice through their mobile phones in their own languages. The minister also asked states to integrate their agricultural schemes with Bharat Vistar.

‘Research must move from lab to land’

The minister said India has around 16,000 agricultural scientists across ICAR institutions, Krishi Vigyan Kendras and agricultural universities, and stressed the need for stronger interaction between researchers and farmers.

“Unless farmers and scientists sit together, and unless research reaches the farmer, it will not be enough. Research must move from lab to land,” he said.

He said states could organise 15-20 day agricultural campaigns during which central government scientists would visit villages and fields and interact directly with farmers.

Rabi conference on September 28-29

Chouhan announced that the Rabi Conference would be held at Pusa Institute in Delhi on September 28 and 29, with agriculture ministers and officials from states expected to attend with detailed Rabi-season plans.

The conference will assess crop-wise sowing plans and acreage and use these estimates to prepare requirements for seeds, fertilisers and other agricultural inputs.

Chouhan said the broader objective was to transform Indian agriculture and position India as the world’s food basket.

“We have to make India the world’s food basket. It can be done. It is not impossible. It will happen, but all of us have to work for it,” he said.

The conference, however, saw the absence of agriculture ministers from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, two of the major southern agricultural states.