India will continue to play a critical role in fulfilling the world’s food requirement, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Monday while inaugurating the first meeting of the agriculture working group under India’s G20 presidency here.
“The country will use every opportunity to cater to the world’s food security needs,” Chouhan said, adding that the world will need 345 million tonnes (mt) foodgrains by 2030.
He said that the G20 meet will offer solutions like new technologies for enhancing farm productivity, which is the key for addressing the global food security concerns.
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Chouhan has stressed that the need of the hour is to focus on three key areas — increasing production, reducing cost of cultivation and ensuring better prices for the farmers.
Chouhan also suggested moving towards faster adoption of natural farming in order to protect human health as well as the health of the environment in order to pass on a better planet to the future generations.
During the three-day event, around a hundred delegates from G20 member countries have commenced discussions on a host of issues such as climate-smart farming, agriculture market information system, wheat initiatives, agriculture risk management and reduction of food loss.
In the current fiscal year out of 4.6 mt of wheat export so far, Madhya Pradesh shipped 2.1 mt of grain. “There are many opportunities for wheat exports from the state and the government will take steps to harness the opportunity,” Chouhan said.
India has virtually banned shipment of wheat since May 2022 while allowing only those consignments aimed at meeting food security needs of developing countries. The country has also prohibited shipment of other wheat products.
Chouhan said that total cultivated area in Madhya Pradesh has gone up to 29.9 mt from 19.9 mt in the last 18 years. The production of various agricultural commodities has increased to 61.9 mt from 15.9 mt in this duration.
On the prospects of millets, Chouhan said that the country is gradually developing a value chain of millets which would bring benefit to farmers and improve processing of the produce.
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Talking about millets he said India is making the world aware about millets and its benefits, thus creating global demand for the same.
On this year’s wheat prospects, Chouhan told FE that this year the state’s grain output will be at a record level. Madhya Pradesh is the second biggest producer of wheat in the country after Uttar Pradesh.