Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry hosted Bengal Agriculture Conclave 2022 today in Kolkata.
The Theme of the Conclave was Policy Interventions to Reshape the Agricultural Economy of West Bengal.
Inaugural Session was addressed by Shri Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Minister-in-Charge, Department of Agriculture, Govt. of West Bengal as the Chief Guest, Shri Biplab Mitra, Minister-in-Charge, Department of Agricultural Marketing, Govt. of West Bengal as the Guest of Honour
MCCI Bengal Agriculture Conclave deliberated on the need for concerted efforts at all levels- Government, Farmers, Industry and Academia- to evolve right strategies to make the farmers “Atmanirbhar”. The Agri Conclave has come up with comprehensive recommendations on strategies to reshape agriculture sector of the State.
Shri Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Minister-in-Charge, Department of Agriculture, Govt. of West Bengal invited the private entities to handhold the farmers to move forward in the path of sustainable development.
Shri Chattopadhyay in his inaugural address emphasized on Social Security of the farmers and the schemes rolled out by the Government in this direction. He specially highlighted the Schemes namely Krishak-Bondhu and Sashya Bima and how these schemes are benefiting the farmers to grow and develop.
While advicing on farming in Coastal area, Shri Chattopadhay informed that the Government has already developed 6 special types of seeds for yielding crops in the coastal region. Government is also focusing on new technology to develop seeds in the area of tissue culture.
While highlighting the need for farm mechanisation, Shri Chattopadhyay mentioned that the Government of West Bengal has given thrust on the usage of high-tech machineries in agriculture.
Crop diversification is another priority area of the Government. The Government has already indentified 16 districts for crop diversification programme, he stated.
Shri Biplab Mitra, Minister-in-Charge, Department of Agricultural Marketing, Govt. of West Bengal in his special address mentioned that the theme of the Conclave is most relevant and important in current scenario.
Shri Mitra mentioned that Sufal Bangla, a dream project has already served large number of people with the supply of fresh vegetables at their door steps. It is a unique Farm to Fork intiative of the Government, he said. He further added that the project involves FPOs in marketing of agriculture produce and aims at ensuring remunerative price to farmers and reasonable price to the consumers by way of eliminating middlemen from the marketing chain. The Project presently operates through 63 mobile vans, 3 Hubs and 500 retail outlets across the state.
For fast and hassle free transactions of agricultural produce, West Bengal State Agricultural Marketing Board has introduced e-Permit system. 18 markets have already been integrated in e-NAM portal, Shri Mitra added.
He also mentioned that Agricultural Export Policy has been formulated with vision to double the agri export by 2030.
Shri Mitra specified some recent initiatives of Government of West Bengal in areas of Agriculture marketing, like Organic Haat at Rajarhat, Green Chilli Market at Paniparul, Egra Paschim Medinipur and Terminal Market at Asansol.
While welcoming the Guest, Shri Lalit Beriwala, Senior Vice-President, MCCI appreciated the vision set out by the Government of West Bengal against the backdrop of current uncertainties and how the same has helped in sustaining the growth momentum in the state.
The inaugural Session was also addressed by Shri Kamalesh Kumar, General Manager, NABARD, West Bengal and Shri Atul Churiwal, Managing Director, Krishi Rasayan Exports Pvt. Ltd. as the Special Guests.
Shri Suresh Agarwal, Chairman, MCCI Council on Agriculture & Horticulture, proposed the Vote of Thanks.
The Inaugural Session was followed by the Special Session on Creating an Eco-System for Agri Marketing & Export.
The Special Session was addressed by Shri Ambikanand Jha, General Manager, Agriculture and Rural Business, UCO Bank, Shri Ashoke Kumar Das, Special Secretary, Department of Agricultural Marketing, Govt. of West Bengal, Shri Aayush Marodia, Director-Sales & Marketing, PAN Seeds Pvt. Ltd. Shri Sontu Das, Regional Manager, Kolkata, AIC of India Ltd. and Prof. Dr. Deborshi De, Founder Director, Vedantic Organic Research Foundation.
Source: MCCI Release
