THE ASSOCIATED CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY OF INDIA

Knowledge • Technologies • Partnerships • Sustainability

th th8 -9 February, 2010 • New Delhi

Prof. M.S. Swaminathan lighting the lamp. Also seen in the picture is Mr. Pradeep

Wig and Dr. O.S.Tyagi

Release of white paper by Prof. Abhijit Sen with Prof. M.S. Swaminathan. Also seen in

the picture is Dr.William S. Niebur, Mr.Pradeep Wig, Dr. Mrs. Swati Piramal,

Mr.D.S.Rawat and Dr. Panjab Singh

Exhibition

RECOMMENDATIONS OF GR-IIontinued growth of the agriculture sector is particularly important not only for ensuring the food and nutritional security but also because of its vital role in enhancing purchasing power of the rural population. The Planning Commission has set a growth target of 4 per cent per annum for agriculture sector. Acknowledging the importance of innovation to agriculture development and affirming out commitment to advancing further the contributions o

thknowledge based industries to India's growth, ASSOCHAM organized a Global Meet on Green Revolution II, 8-9 Feb 2010, New Delhi, with focus on knowledge, technologies, partnerships and sustainability.

The overall objective of the Global Meet was to promote partnership & business opportunities in the agriculture sector. The unanimous view at the Global meet was that to be global leader in agriculture, India must promote opportunities for technological developments, innovations, knowledge creation & sharing, infrastructure development, strengthening market access systems and higher public private partnership.

Recommendations

1. Integrated Agriculture Zones (IAZ): Permit development of IAZs at the District level in the country where

integrated services related to agriculture sector could be made available. The services and facilities should

include market information, long and short term storage, raw material grading and processing, transport

coordination, power generation facilities from non-conventional sources, farmer's training facilities, etc.

2. Tax and Levi Issues: Tax incentives / holidays as accorded to IT companies should be extended to agri - food

processing sector to facilitate its multifarious growth. Thorough review is required for mandi taxes and other

such taxes, as they are not being used for the right purpose of infrastructure development. Tax holidays for the

IAZs for at least 5 years including the income from the food processing activities and granting IAZs the status of

'Infrastructure' in terms of taxes, import duties and other incentives. Government should permit accelerated

depreciation on the investments made in the IAZs in the manner similar to the incentives given to promote non-

conventional energy (wind power)

3. Support for Backward Integration: Companies that invest substantial amounts in integrating the value chain

should receive government support. The companies help in farmers realizing a better price for their produce by

minimizing the intermediaries in the value chain.

4. Implementation Strategy: The policy and incentives of the government do not reach the intended audience due

to multiple roles and channels of service delivery. Government needs to bring all these under one window to

improve clarity in roles and improve service effectiveness/efficiency of delivery.

5. Agricultural Innovations and Private Sector Participation: ASSOCHAM emphasizes a pluralistic system of

research providers. Private sector can efficiently provide near-market research services with scope for

appropriation of benefits, the public sector should be prepared to play a complementary role. There are many

C

Seated (RtoL) Dr. Hari Shankar Gupta, Dr.V.V.Sadamate, Dr. Panjab Singh,

Mr. Rajvir S Rathi and Mr. Arun Srivastava

Seated (RtoL) Mr. KV Subbarao, Dr.Simon Holland, Dr. J.S. Samra, Mr. Munishwar Vasudeva and Dr. Swapan Kumar Datta

Seated (LtoR ) Mr. Ashok C. Khosla, Ms. Rosa Rolle, Prof. R.B. Singh and

Mr BB Pattanaik

areas where public-private linkages can enhance the effectiveness of both sectors. Enabling institutional

mechanisms, especially IPR protection and capacity within the public sector to manage partnerships, can help

develop and sustain these linkages.

6. Capacity Building Measures: Government, with the help of private players should come up with ways of training

the producers on the Safety and Quality standards as well as on traceability aspects. Setting of more institutions

like NIFTEM, CFTRI, etc, and trainings from export bodies like APEDA will help in developing research skills and

keeping up-to-date on the export market requirements.

7. Policy Push for Technology Upgrade: Government needs to support the industry in granting fiscal incentives for

capital investment towards technology upgrade. The companies that are constrained by finances into upgrading

to latest technology in food processing will need to have an incentive.

8. Conducive Policy for Contract Farming: The land ceilings law is restrictive for players who want to invest in

contract farming. Contract farming provides benefits to all the players across the value chain from the farmer to

the processor and will lead to overall development of the industry; hence a supportive policy is required.

9. Establishing Entrepreneurial Banks: ASSOCHAM suggests formation of 'Entrepreneurial Bank' for promotion of

agricultural marketing infrastructure units (AMIU's). To facilitate private entrepreneurs as well as fast track

clearance of all required formalities for establishing AIMU's, single window services may be established, with

branches at state and district levels. Fiscal incentives in the form of progressive taxation would also go a long way

in attracting private investment in such units.

10. Strengthening the Agriculture in Eastern India: Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, eastern UP, West Bengal, Assam

and Orissa have immense untapped production potential. A large number of GOI schemes with a substantial

financial outlay, like the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, Food Security Mission, and National Horticulture Mission

exist, but are not making the desired impact on the productivity and production of small farmers. A well planned

“Bridge the Yield Gap Movement” needs to be initiated with the active involvement of farming families, Gram

Sabhas need to be involved in finalizing the components of the Bridge the Yield Gap Movement. The different

agencies involved in this task should adopt a “Deliver as one” approach with the help of Gram Sabhas.

11. Yuva Kisan and Agricultural Renaissance: Nearly 70 percent of our population is below the age of 35 and 70 per

cent of them live in villages. The future of our agriculture will depend upon attracting and retaining youth in

farming. This is one of the principal goals of the National Policy for Farmers (2007). ASSOCHAM recommends

that new programme for youth in agriculture may be initiated by integrating ongoing schemes like the Small

Farmers' Agri-business Consortium (SFAC), Agri-Clinics, Agri-business Centre, Food Parks, etc.

12. National Grid of Ultra-Modern Grain Storages: ASSOCHAM suggests and supports the establishment ultra-

modern grain storages at prominent locations across the country each with a storage capacity of a million tonnes

of food grains Government should remain at the commanding height of the food security system. Such storage

centres should be equipped with modern storage facilities.

13. Pro-Active Approach Towards Hi-Tech Agriculture: A strong, prosperous and competitive agri food industry

depends on successful research and development. ASSOCHAM urges the development and adoption of hi-tech

agriculture. For e.g. controlled irrigation, precision farming, biotechnology and nanotechnology to make the

Shri Mathura Prasad Mahato, Hon' ble Minister for Agriculture, Animal

Husbandary and Fisheries, Government ndof Jharkhand lighting the lamp on 2 day

Seated (LtoR) Mr. Anil Jauhri and Shri Mathura Prasad Mahato

Seated (RtoL ) Dr. K.Alagusundaram, Shri J.N.L Srivastava and

Mr. Srinivas Sonna

THE ASSOCIATED CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY OF INDIACorporate Office: 1, Community Centre, Zamrudpur, Kailash Colony, New Delhi-110 048

Tel: +91-11-46550555 (Hunting Line) • Fax: +91-11-46536481/82, 46536498E-mail: assocham@nic.in • Website: www.assocham.org

For full details, please visit www.assocham.org

Shri.Mohan R. Bajikar delivering the session. Also seen in the picture Dr. O.S.Tyagi, Dr.Shivraj Singh,

Mr. R.G. Aggarwal and Mr. P.S.Pangli

Shri Mathura Prasad Mahato receiving a memento from Dr. O.S.Tyagi. Also see in

the picture Dr. Neeraj and Mr. Nakul

sector employment generating and globally competitive. The Indian farmers have demonstrated their resilience

to adopt new technologies in the past and can do even in further provided they are supported in terms of

infrastructure and policy backup, there is need to step up investment in agriculture R&D.

14. Strengthening Investment in Infrastructure: ASSOCHAM strongly supports the need to strengthen

infrastructure including roads, transport, communication, packaging, warehousing, processing, etc for which

public as well as private investment should be provided under project mode. There is tremendous lack of

infrastructure in the entire backend supply chain in terms of packaging/grading/sorting centres, integrated cold

chain facilities, irradiation facilities, primary processing centers etc. To avoid wastage of agri-products, there is

need to provide 10 year tax holiday for investment in cold chain infrastructure.

15. Developing Conducive Environment for Techno-Info Exchange: ASSOCHAM believes that the Government

needs to create and foster a culture that motivates and encourages the exchange of scientists between the

corporate and public sector institutions for holistic development of agriculture.