East-West Seed India and FICCI organized a webinar on the topic ‘A day in the life of Vegetable Farmer,’ in which Dr.Bhagirath, Director, South Asia Biotechnology Centre, and Board Member, APEDA, Ministry of Commerce & Industry,
Government of India, Ajit Gholap, Progressive Vegetable farmer, Pune, Harshit Gupta
Co-Founder, Gramophone, Ajit Korde, Progressive Vegetable farmer, Phaltan, Dr.Shashi Nahire
Head-Product Development, East-West Seed India, participated as panelists. Srinivas Kuchibhotla, Partner, food, agriculture, and retail practice, KPMG moderated the session. Nearly 300 participants across India participated actively in the Webinar.
Said Dilip Rajan, Managing Director, East-West Seed India, in his opening remarks, “In these troubled times. Vegetables represent a real contribution to the development and offer a better economic choice for the smallholder farmer- high-value crops grown on smaller farms can yield better returns. However, we must create avenues to offer smallholder farmers quality vegetable seeds combined with knowledge, training, and technology to grow and harvest them correctly. Only this way, we can make more varieties of more nutritious food available to more people than ever before. These initiatives will contribute to better economic returns for the farmer, better food for the consumer, and put us on the path of ensuring food security for the future.”
V Ram Kaundinya, Director General of FSII and Head, Agriculture Committee FICCI, said, “Technology and innovation will be essential to improving the productivity and stability of vegetable farming. However, the key will be to train the smallholder farmers by sharing the knowledge and skills to improve their productivity. Implementing practical training sessions and support field demonstrations to highlight profitable and sustainable production practices will certainly show positive results.”
