Time to move from food security to farmer prosperity: Dhankhar

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said here on Sunday that the time has come to move from food security to farmer prosperity under the national agriculture agenda. He told students and others at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) that 46 per cent of the population is dependent on agriculture, while it contributes only 16 per cent to the GDP. Speaking on the topic Agriculture – Promoting Education, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Developed India, Dhankhar said institutions like TNAU should carry forward the legacy of veteran agricultural scientist Dr M S Swaminathan, who was an alumnus of TNAU. He said there is a need to increase the contribution of the agriculture sector to the GDP. Dhankhar said India is now a net exporter of agricultural products and the share of agri-food products in our total exports is more than 11 per cent. The Vice President further said, you have to write a new chapter. Now the time has come to move our national agriculture agenda beyond food security… We should move from food security to farmer prosperity.