Latest farming techniques for India advocated

Chennai, Oct 30 : Increasing farm productivity through latest farming methods, new storage technologies and manufacturing value-added food products should be focus areas for India, speakers at a food conference said here Friday.

"The government and the Indian private sector should come together to unify the agriculture market supported by suitable food safety law incorporating international best practices," said US Chamber of Commerce chairman Bob Milligan.

"This would facilitate further investments in the agricultural sector," Milligan said at the conference entitled "Growing with Food, The Evergreen Business", organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
"With agriculture going to continue as the anchor for India's prosperity, the US is keen to strengthen Indo-US cooperation in this field," he said.

Milligan also said American companies would extend their expertise in building infrastructure for post-harvest storage, supply chain management and other value-added services as India had huge potential in the processed food segment.

Like him, Britannia Industries managing director Vinita Bali also underscored the need for value addition in food items, saying such products had to be made affordable for consumers so that farmers were the ultimate beneficiaries.
"India should increase its yield per acre by adopting latest farming practices," Bali added.

Echoed Gujarat Agro Industries Corp managing director D. Thara: "Indian farmers should adopt internationally benchmarked farm practices, including post-harvest technologies, to improve value addition to agricultural produce."

According to him, research institutions should work with farmers to understand their problems and help them improve productivity.