NEW DELHI, August 6: In her first public appearance after taking over the top job, President Pratibha Patil today underlined the importance of agriculture to the Indian economy. Echoing Jawaharlal Nehru’s remarks that “everything can wait, but not agriculture”, Patil termed agriculture as a “living heritage” for the country, and reminded that the country “cannot afford to rest” on the laurels of the first green revolution, which already “has run its course”.

“For India, farming is a living heritage, which we should protect and preserve. Agriculture has to remain centrestage in our nation’s economic thinking, making it attractive and rewarding,” said Patil, addressing a gathering at the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences in the Capital today.

Pointing towards the constraints in areas of public investment, soil health, nutrient management, shrinking farmer’s land holding, credit flow, and market access to the farmers “plaguing the agricultural production environment” in the country, Patil emphasised the need for new policy initiative for agriculture revival in the country.

In this context, she underlined the need for localised, state-specific strategies based on local agro-climactic conditions and constraints, for the revival of the agriculture in the country. “Precision farming should be developed as a special thrust area wherein a farmer adjusts farm practices to match the variation of soil and terrain of his plot rather than follow the one size fits all approach,” said Patil.

Keeping the global climate change in view, Patil advocated the need for a “climate literacy programme” and training of local level climate managers to guide the farmers during good as well as bad monsoon periods. In addition, she emphasized the need for diversification of our crop basket, both in terms of production and consumption through a well-planned diversification strategy in the field of agriculture and allied sectors.

“It would be equally important to bear in mind that our agricultural strategies should not only be pro-poor and pro-nature but also pro-women”, said Patil, emphasising the need to “mainstream gender consideration” in all areas of agriculture research, education and extension activities.