NEW DELHI, 13 May 2016: A National Conference on potential of
Plasticulture in India on the theme “Role of Plasticulture in Next generation
Agriculture” was inaugurated by Shri Hukmdev Narayan Yadav, Chairman, Parliamentary
Standing Committee on Agriculture & Farmers Welfare here today. He also
released Knowledge and Strategy Paper prepared by FICCI and Tata Strategic
Management Group (TSMG), a leading & largest Indian owned management
consulting firm.
The report “Unleashing the
potential of Plasticulture – Need of the hour” highlights the importance of
adopting various Plasticulture methods and how it will play a critical role in
order to bring further prosperity to the Indian agricultural sector. TSMG
estimated that the agriculture output can be increased by ~INR 68,000 Cr by
using Plasticulture applications in all pre and post-harvest requirements.
The Conference was jointly
organized by FICCI and Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Government
of India, Department of Agriculture Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Govt. of
India, National Committee on Plasticulture Applications in Horticulture of Ministry
of Agriculture, Govt. of India. TSMG is the
Knowledge & Strategy Partner of this conference.
Hukmdev Narayan Yadav, Chairman,
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture & Farmers Welfare in his
inaugural address, discussed the potential of plastics in agriculture and
business opportunities present in the sector.
He highlighted the benefits of Plasticulture in farming methods and post
harvesting techniques and truly believes that Indian plastics industry should
promote sustainable development by investing in technologies that protects
environment and stimulates growth while balancing economic needs and financial
constraints.Sanjeev Chopra, Additional Chief Secretary & Principal
Secretary - Agriculture, Government of West Bengal referred to applications of
plastics in agriculture and has the potential to transform Indian agriculture
to bring in the "Second Green Revolution" if tapped to its maximum
potential.
Avinash Joshi, Joint Secretary
(Petrochemicals), Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Government of
India while detailing the positive role being played by the Indian plastics
industry, as also various steps being taken by the Govt. to facilitate the
growth of the sector, advised for focus to sustainable growth. The industry would need to set targets for
bringing in efficient technologies and for this the industry must invest more in
R&D.
Shakil P. Ahmed, Joint Secretary,
Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Government of
India in his address focused on the significant progress in the adoption of
Plasticulture techniques in the last decade.
He also discussed about the
greater use of plastic in agriculture can also help to a great extent to
achieve up to fifty percent of the intended targets in Agriculture.Krish
Iyengar, Executive Director, National Committee on Plasticulture Applications
in Agriculture & Horticulture
(NCPAH) also pointed to the huge
unrealized potential of further growth of plastic industry , as indicated by
the present very low per capita consumption level in the country. Sujoy Choudhury , General Manager (
Petrochemicals ) Marketing , IOCL
discussed about how the plasticulture is
going to play
a dominant role
in horticulture development of
the country. This is of special significance in view of
the decision of Government of India to double the horticulture production in
the country in the next five years. Hence the
role of plasticulture applications - micro irrigation, and mulching
on one hand and protected cover cultivation
on the other is going to be
very critical in the coming years.
Manish Panchal, Senior Practice Head -
Chemical & Energy, Tata Strategic Management Group, said, “The increasing
population is raising concerns on the food security in India thereby putting a
pressure on the agricultural sector to increase the production levels with
limited resources by improving efficiencies and reducing wastages. Government
should make the micro irrigation mandatory for all those crops which are water
guzzling crops”
Vinay Mathur, Deputy Secretary General,
FICCI pointed out the dwindling quality
and the availability of water resources and importance of adopting
Plasticulture for ensuring sustainability of the agricultural practice. He
added that the Report on “Unleashing the potential of Plasticulture – Need of
the hour”, jointly undertaken by FICCI and TSMG highlights the approach required by the key stakeholders
including the government and the regulatory bodies to be able to harness the
plastics opportunities in agriculture
and provide a much needed thrust to a second green revolution Representatives from the Government of India (Department of
Chemicals and Petrochemicals and Department of Agriculture & Cooperation),
the State Government, private industry players along with large number of
farmers who are important beneficiaries of plasticulture, were present in this
conference
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