Time has come to make farming a lucrative career, especially for unemployed youth, feels the Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu. He said by making agriculture economically viable and financial rewarding will make more and more youth to take to farming.
He was of the firm opinion that to shape up a healthy and robust agricultural sector, one of the important prerequisites to ensure sustainable and including growth in India.
He was delivering the eighth convocation address of Sri Venkteswara Veterinary University in temple town. Quoting the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) estimates, he said it claims rural India has an estimated 90.2 million agricultural households.
He emphasized that the students to work to ensure facilitating sustainable income for all those households who depend on agriculture for their livelihood.
Venkaiah Naidu said livestock production and agriculture are intrinsically linked and both are crucial for overall food security. He also pointed out that the agriculture industry contributes 17 per cent of Indians total GDP, of which the 27 per comes from Animal Husbandry.
According to him, overall the dairy, poultry and aqua industries contribute 4.4 per cent to the nations GDP.
He said the numbers signify the crucial role played by these sectors in our economy. They employ nearly 16 million people across the nation. Animal husbandry is vital for ensuring a more inclusive and sustainable agriculture system,” he said.
Naidu said the NSSO estimates that livestock is the principle source of income for nearly 23 per cent of agricultural households in the country with very small land holdings of less than 0.01 hectares.
Integrated farming practices would certainly help double farmer’s income by 2022 and hence ensuring the health and improving productivity of livestock was paramount, he said.
The Vice President also spoke of the need to conserve and improve the productivity of indigenous breeds of cattle, whose numbers were now declining.
He said India is blessed with a huge biodiversity of indigenous cattle that have survived over hundreds of years in local habitats. But, unfortunately, their number is declining. Therefore, the Vice President said the need of the hour is to conserve and improve the productivity of our indigenous breeds.
The Vice President also urged Universities to continually collaborate with each other and develop linkages with industries to develop human resource, augment technology and find solutions to problems faced by the farmers.