Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday launched two new portals, including one for registration of pesticides. Another portal is for documentation related to imports and exports of agri-products and plants.
The minister launched the two portals — CROP (Comprehensive Registration of Pesticides) and PQMS (Plant Quarantine Management System) — in an event held at the Pusa complex, with an aim to improve ease of doing business. Addressing the event, Tomar said the two new portals have been launched to make the process of pesticides registration and documentation process for export-import simple and transparent.
The government is committed to make improvements in systems, if required, he added. Highlighting the importance of agriculture sector in Indian economy, Tomar stressed on the need to strengthen the farm sector.
The country is not only self-sufficient in the foodgrains production but also has surplus stocks which is attributed to the efforts of farmers community, research done by farm scientists and the farmer-friendly policies of the government, he added. The minister said the country’s foodgrains production and the government’s procurement operation remained unaffected despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
He further emphasised on the need to strengthen the agriculture sector through government policies, research activities, focus on quality, transparency and ease of doing business to make India even more stronger. The Centre and the State governments have taken various steps to bring reforms, attract investments in agriculture sector and improve farmers income through better agri-marketing system, he added.
The two new portals have been developed to bring ease of doing business and make systems simple, fair and transparent, Agriculture Secretary Manoj Ahuja said. An official statement said that two redeveloped online portals have been launched to ensure a more coordinated integration with external systems and stakeholders as well as to bring in greater transparency in the existing online system.
The need for quicker disposal of applications related to export/import of agricultural commodities and pesticides registration has also been taken into account in redeveloping the portals. The agriculture department, through Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage (DPPQS), has been catering to Indian exporters and importers of agriculture commodities and Indian pesticide industry through its two portals namely, CROP and Plant Quarantine Information System (PQIS).
Now, PQIS has been redeveloped as PQMS to provide a transparent online system with no physical touch points for the applicants through various features. Similarly, the re-developed CROP portal will immensely help in ease of doing business and provide greater and timely crop protection solution to the farmers of the country, the statement said.
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