Even as he asked farmers to think big,Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi painted a grim picture of agriculture in the country at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Agriculture Summit 2013 here Monday.
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Addressing delegates from 14 countries in Hindi,Modi said every day 2,500 people abandon farming as profession and more than two lakh farmers committed suicide in the past two decades.
Narendra Modi: India losing sheen as agricultural nation
He suggested to the Central government that instead of slaughterhouse subsidy,warehouse subsidy would help farmers save their livestock.
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At the two-day event,which the CM claimed to be the first of its kind in India,farmers from 29 states and two Union Territories listened to Modis suggestions to the Prime Minister on how to revive agriculture.
Instead of slaughterhouse subsidy,if equal amount of subsidy was given in construction of warehouses,farmers would not have to send livestock to slaughter house, claimed Modi.
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At the event,partnered by Denmark,Modi said,Indian farmer is insecure. I have figures from the government that say that 2,500 persons are abandoning farming per day. In the past 20 years,2.7 lakh farmers have committed suicide. Less than 30 per cent farmers get bank loans.
Modi said that there was an urgent need to increase farm productivity but the Centre was ignoring suggestions made by a committee he headed. We have nothing to map real-time production, he said,mentioning figures that throw light on how India is way behind in farm productivity compared to countries like the Netherlands,Peru,Indonesia and Ireland.