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Copenhagen Consensus Center

Sector Expert Consultation on Agriculture

On 26th Sept 2017, the sector expert consultation on Agriculture and allied sectors was held at the office of the Planning Department in AP Secretariat, Velagapudi.

 

The consultation was organized in collaboration with the AP State Planning Board. Dr. B.Gangaiah, Member Secretary, AP State Planning Board chaired the meeting. A total of 13 stakeholders comprising of Director (Research), Director (Extension), senior faculty members from Acharya NG Ranga Agriculture University, senior officials from Departments of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Sericulture, Fisheries of Government of Andhra Pradesh, Dean of Development and Management Institute, Patna, consultants from AP State Planning Board, Smart AP Foundation attended the consultation. 

All experts contributed to a meaningful discussion on the solutions to address challenges in agriculture and allied sectors. A total of 46 interventions were listed. The list of interventions is presented below.

  1. Extend irrigation network and rain-water harvesting
  2. Expand food processing units
  3. Post-harvest value addition to crop
  4. Adoption of rain shed water management and rainwater harvesting
  5. Provide custom hiring centers through cluster approach – crop and location specific
  6. Align extension activities with market-led and value chain approaches
  7. Implement integrated package at Mandal or cluster level by agriculture and allied sectors for outreach activities
  8. Strengthen Canal regulatory structure 
  9. Identification of crop colonies depending on soil type, rainfall
  10. Employ youth with technical skills to service and manage machinery at the custom hiring center
  11. Adoption of fertilizer application based on soil cards
  12. Encourage agricultural R+D. 
  13. Farmer linkages with market system and channels
  14. Improve technology usage by farmers
  15. Issuing of Certificate of Cultivation (COCs) 
  16. Cropping patterns need to be changed with crop wise zones based on high and low productivity 
  17. Rational pricing for water to reduce over irrigation
  18. Micro-irrigation through farm ponds
  19. Improve awareness of subsidy schemes
  20. Address issues of small, marginal and tenant farmer
  21. Reduce input costs which are among the highest in states of India
  22. Promotion of deep-sea fisheries
  23. Establishment of fertility improvement hospitals for animal husbandry 
  24. Quality of animal feed available in market needs to be regulated
  25. Health management program with multi-disease vaccine development
  26. Mobile veterinary clinics
  27. Linkages between sectors (farm and non-farm) in sericulture to be strengthened 
  28. Mechanization for sericulture 
  29. Expand soil testing to improve yields and use of farm inputs
  30. Crop disease surveillance
  31. Improve mechanization of agriculture with improved Operation and maintenance of farm machinery and local availability of spare parts
  32. Science led development, strengthening of extension system extensively
  33. Climate-smart agriculture, weather-based agro advisories
  34. Improve credibility of government advisories to improve extension activities
  35. Overhaul the crop loan system to facilitate actual flow of physical money into  agriculture
  36. Improve productivity through provision of quality certified seeds, distributed through correct channels
  37. Reform Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) act
  38. Better targeting of subsidies and insurance through unique identification (UID) based payments
  39. Reduce use of fertilizers, facilitate organic manure usage
  40. Increasing crop intensity
  41. Diversify to seaweed and mariculture
  42. Modernization of fishing vessels 
  43. Aqua-culture approach with value addition
  44. Wastage of crop residue should be limited and converted to useful cattle feed
  45. Ration balancing program should be introduced
  46. Farmer loan waivers

List of Participants