Chouhan Assesses Strategy to Enhance Soybean and Cotton Production; Advocates for Superior Seeds and Mechanization
Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan chaired a high-level meeting in Delhi on July 24, 2025, to review strategies for enhancing the productivity of soybean and cotton.
During the meeting, Minister Chouhan emphasized the critical role of seed quality and instructed both Secretaries to organize a meeting with government seed corporations to ensure the availability of high-quality seeds to farmers. He also directed the formation of a team of scientists for germplasm import in mission mode and asked that this work be aligned with the objectives of the National Seed Mission.
The action plan of the National Mission on Seeds, as discussed in the meeting, involves adopting a mission-mode approach with focused responsibilities assigned to dedicated teams of scientists. This plan emphasizes integrating the soybean and cotton productivity enhancement initiative with the National Mission on Seeds, ensuring quality seed availability to farmers. It also involves the dissemination of technical information through videos and mobile messages to achieve wider outreach among farmers.
Minister Chouhan recommended implementing the Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan ahead of major cropping seasons, August-September for Rabi and March-April for Kharif. He also suggested evaluating Custom Hiring Centers to identify required agricultural machinery and ensure their availability.
The Minister also discussed the importance of plant and soil health management, seed quality regulations, mechanization, and enhanced farmer awareness initiatives during the meeting. He emphasized the need for increasing awareness among registered farmers by strengthening seasonal advisories and spreading technical knowledge about soybean and cotton cultivation.
In the follow-up meeting, Agriculture Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi, DARE Secretary, and Director General of ICAR Dr. M. L. Jat were present, along with other senior officials. ICAR Deputy Director General (Crops) Dr. D.K. Yadav presented research-based approaches to boost crop productivity.
Discussions during the meeting covered various key research and development topics, including the import and use of foreign germplasm, implementation of genome editing projects, national missions for high-yielding seeds, the establishment of speed breeding facilities, plant and soil health management, seed quality regulations, mechanization, and enhanced farmer awareness initiatives.
As part of the Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan, Minister Chouhan held consultations with farmers and stakeholders at the National Soybean Research Institute in Indore on June 26 and the Sugarcane Breeding Institute in Coimbatore on July 11.
Minister Chouhan also instructed the equipping of all 731 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) across the country with broadband, projectors, and other facilities to facilitate the dissemination of technical information to farmers. However, he did not mention any specific date for the implementation of the discussed action points in the current paragraph.
The Minister did not provide any new recommendations for disseminating technical information to farmers in the current paragraph. He did not mention any consultations or visits he held with farmers or stakeholders in the current paragraph either. He did, however, assign responsibilities to relevant departments to ensure timely implementation of all the key action points discussed in the meeting.
[1] Insights gathered from the Minister's recent crop-wise and region-wise field visits and consultations with stakeholders, with a particular focus on research-based strategies to boost productivity presented by senior officials from ICAR and other agricultural bodies.
- The Minister, during the meeting, acknowledged the significance of education-and-self-development and personal-growth for farmers, suggesting the dissemination of technical information through videos and mobile messages to promote productivity and achieve wider outreach.
- Aligned with the objectives of the National Seed Mission, the action plan also emphasizes the formation of a team of scientists for the import of foreign germplasm, which could potentially contribute to the farmers' productivity and personal-growth by providing them with high-quality seeds and technical knowledge.
