Speed up transferring of agri tech to land from lab: Agriculture Minister

New Delhi: Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Saturday called upon farm scientists to speed up efforts to transfer technologies from the lab to the grassroots level in an effort to double farmers' income in the next five years.

Addressing the 88th Foundation Day of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) here, Singh said, "Our government has targeted doubling farmers' income by 2022. We will focus on not only agriculture but allied sectors to achieve this goal."

Stating that integrated farming is solution for raising farmers' income, the minister said the government will promote this in 101 ICAR institutes spread across the country and showcase farmers its benefits.

"A family can save up to Rs 3 lakh a year by doing integrated farming," he said.

Emphasising on the role of technology in raising the farm output, the minister said, "We have to speed up efforts to transfer the technology from lab to land. I urge all scientists and institutes to focus on this and ensure marketing of new products in a big way."

He also said allied activities like poultry, fishery and dairy will be the focus area for supplementing the farm income.

Three ministers of state for agriculture Parshottam Rupala, S S Ahluwalia and Sudarshan Bhagat, and ICAR Director General Trilochan Mohapatra were present.

These ministers also gave away 2016 ICAR awards in 19 categories to 119 scientists, farmers and journalists.

It may be noted that the award ceremony saw some lack of staff coordination and preparedness, with officials scrambling to find the recipients concerned for their awards.