India appeals to G20 nations to adopt ‘3S’ formula in agriculture for tackling food security concerns

India on Tuesday called on G20 nations to adopt ‘3S’ strategy – Smart, Sustainable and Serve – for the agriculture ecosystem in order to address the global food security concerns.

Addressing media on the sidelines of the first G20 Agriculture Deputies’ Meeting here, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said agriculture for India has always been a priority and for the world it has fully come to the fore now. “Our thinking is we have to adopt 3S strategy for the agriculture ecosystem to make a mark on the world food system,” Scindia said.

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The 3S strategy is ‘smart’ and ‘sustainable’ agriculture which should ‘serve’ all, he said. For smart agriculture, Scindia emphasised on adopting drone and other new technologies for increasing the crop yield. For sustainable agriculture, farmers should focus on achieving higher yields, use better inputs besides focusing on advanced technologies and marketing, he said. Stating that India has made a significant progress in agriculture, the minister said it is the top nation in the world in milk production, second in vegetables and fruits and third in foodgrains production.

India’s foodgrains output has risen from 265 million tonne to 315 million tonne in the last eight years. The budgetary outlay for the farm sector has been increased by four-and-half times to USD 10.5 billion (around Rs 86,700 crore) in the last eight years, he added. Scindia, the union minister for civil aviation and steel, also mentioned that his home state Madhya Pradesh too has made a significant progress in the farm sector and is a major producer of soya and garlic. The state’s foodgrains output increased almost 4 times to 629 lakh tonne from 165 lakh tonne in last 18 years. Irrigation has improved by 50 per cent in the state, he said.

“Based on the outcome of the discussion, India and G-20 nations will provide a new road map for agriculture to the world,” he added. The first Agriculture Deputies Meeting of the Agriculture Working Group (AWG) under India’s G20 presidency is being held here from February 13-15. The second day of the meeting will continue deliberations on four key priority areas: food security and nutrition; sustainable agriculture with climate smart approach; inclusive agriculture value chain and food supply system; and digitisation of agriculture transformation.

On the last day of the event on February 15, the delegates will deliberate on key deliverables of the AWG. It will be a technical session with discussions and participation from all members concerned and international organizations. Next meetings of G20 AWG are likely to be held in Chandigarh, Varanasi and Hyderabad.