Mr. P.Chengal Reddy, Secretary General, CIFA is invited by World Economic Forum (WEF) for their annual meeting at Davos, Switzerland on 26-30 January 2011.
He is invited to participate in the sessions of “Genuine Green Growth: How can agriculture sector drive inclusive growths in developing countries”. Further, he will be participating in “Collaborative path ways for Water secure future” and “Leveraging Public Private Investment to achieve a new vision for agriculture”.
Mr. P.Chengal Reddy will be a co-Panelist along with Mr. Jakaya M.Kikwete, President of Tanzania and Mr. Rajiv J.Shah, Administrator, USAID – US Government Agency for International Development, USA.
The main objective of the WEF deliberations held for the first time on agriculture is to improve the stagnated productivity in India and other developing nations. It aims to assist in achieving food security in these countries.
Further, it proposes to increase investment in food processing & market related activities which are now 6% compared to 80% in Brazil. India is confronted with serious rural upheaval due to lop sided agriculture planning and implementation.
Large variations are occurring in productivity pattern within India. The productivity in Punjab is 3 metric tons compared to one metric ton in Bihar. The area under wheat in Punjab is 3.5 million Hectares compared to 4 Million hectares in Bihar. Similarly, the paddy production in Andhra Pradesh is about 3 tons per hectare compare to 1 tone in Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh which has a large rice growing area.
The sessions also will be discussing on critical issue of making water available to farm sector which is now under serious distress. The dependency of 60% of India’s small farmers on rainfed agriculture is causing serious problems to these farmers’ livelihood and also food security. In the recent years the water demand is increasing for urban needs and also industrial sector. It is therefore becomes imperative that water must be conserved and used in a highly judicious manner.
The World Economic Forum is aiming to bring about technologies and investments to India so as to make small farming sustainable. There is excellent opportunity for private sector for playing an increased role in the overall agriculture development.
