OREANDA-NEWS. Without education, sustained agricultural growth cannot be possible says Union Agriculture Minister Shri Radha Mohan Singh while speaking on the occasion of Annual Function 2014 of All India Agricultural Students Association in Pusa, New Delhi today. Agriculture Minister spoke about various initiatives by the Government to empower the youth. He also mentioned that if the country has to develop, proper Human Resource development should be the focus. He urged the students to take up the initiative of creating awareness among farmers about various Government programmes.

Addressing the students, in the National Seminar titled “Empowering youth in agriculture”, Sh. Singh emphasised on creating awareness about Soil Health Card and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana. He also mentioned that Soil Health card will be issued in the next 3 years to all farmers in the country. With this card, farmers will be able to use fertilizers as per the advice of Soil Testing laboratories about the nutrient content of the soil.Mentioning about new initiative in the form of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, likely to be launched shortly, he said under this programme every field in the country will be brought under the ambit of irrigation facility.

He also pointed towards the growth potential in the fisheries sector, where youth could play an important role. He mentioned that in the first and second quarter of 2014-15, a growth of 8.5% and 13.2% has been registered over the corresponding first and second quarter of 2013-14 in fish production.

Various points which came up during the presentation by eminent speakers included Separate budget for agriculture, proposal for central agriculture service, separate TV/Radio channel for agriculture and farmers in the country, promotion of value added agriculture services , diversified agriculture, secondary agriculture, mixed farming and organic cultivation of crops.

During the programme,he presented awards to the students for their remarkable performance in various sectors of agriculture and told that they are a source of inspiration for other students in the country. Present on the occasion were MP Dr. Satyapal Singh, MP Shri Jagdambika Pal, Dr. S. Ayyappan, Secretary, Department of Agriculture Research and Education, Dr. Gurbachan Singh, Chairman, Agricultural Scientist Recruitment Board and Dr. R.P Singh and students of All India Agricultural Students Association.