NEW DELHI, 7 July 2025: Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh on Monday called for a transformative push towards rapid adoption of advanced agri-technologies in order to drive India’s economic growth, while addressing the 96th Annual General Meeting of the ICAR Society at the NASC Complex in the national capital.
Speaking in the presence of Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other senior officials, Dr. Singh underscored the need for dismantling mental and institutional silos in the agricultural value chain. “It is no longer about whether technology is available—it is about how fast we adopt and integrate it,” he observed.
He cited examples ranging from Jammu & Kashmir’s Lavender Revolution, which has generated over 3,500 startups around aromatic cultivation, to remote-controlled tractors and order-based crop production as pathways to reimagine India’s farm landscape.
“Technology in agriculture has progressed rapidly under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last 11 years. Yet, its full potential remains untapped at the grassroots,” Dr. Singh remarked, stressing that several states have still not leveraged cutting-edge tools such as satellite imagery, precision farming, and biotech pest-resistant cotton.
The Minister pointed to success stories such as radiation-based mango preservation techniques that have enabled Indian mango exports to the United States. “These technologies exist, but many states are yet to come forward and fully exploit them,” he added.
Dr. Singh made an earnest appeal to state agriculture ministers and institutional stakeholders to establish more frequent and informal cross-ministerial working groups to facilitate real-time sharing of solutions and innovations. “We should not wait for annual meetings alone. Let us reach out and build bridges between research and farming communities whenever the need arises,” he urged.
Referring to non-traditional yet commercially viable farming models, Dr. Singh mentioned marine agriculture initiatives in coastal states, off-season tulip cultivation in Bhaderwah for religious offerings, as well as mango farming in Manipur and apple orchards in Andhra Pradesh as success stories that underscore the power of science-led diversification.
The AGM witnessed the release of several key ICAR publications and annual reports, with presentations highlighting the financial and scientific achievements of the Council over the past year.
“Our biggest challenge isn’t lack of technology. It’s the lack of connectedness between those who develop it and those who need it. That is the bridge we must now build,” Dr. Singh concluded, stressing a collaborative approach to modernize Indian agriculture sustainably.
The meeting ended with a vote of thanks and a renewed pledge to harness India’s scientific and technological strengths for agricultural resilience and broader economic growth.
