 "Centre lauds Karnataka's agri marketing system")
Speaking after inaugurating a two-day national conference on "Unified Agricultural Market- Karnataka Model' organised at Hubballi, he reiterated the Union government's commitment to establish a National Agriculture Market (Rashtriya Krishi Mandi) and termed Karnataka as a 'Leader in Agricultural Marketing'.
He was addressing a gathering of agriculture ministers and secretaries from 23 states and three Union Territories who had congregated in Hubballi to participate in the national conference.
He said, agriculture was a state issue and that it was left to the state governments concerned to take forward the idea of 'Rashtriya Krishi Mandi' scheme launched by the Centre. "While the various states might have taken the initiative forward, Karnataka has emerged as leader in facilitating online trading for agricultural produce. So we are here to learn from you," he said addressing the Karnataka team, which had ministers Shamanuru Shivashankarappa, Krishna Byre Gowda, Dinesh Gundurao, Chief Secretary Koushik Mukherjee, Additional Chief Secretaries Latha Krishna Rao and Mahendra Jain, and Additional Secretary Manoj Rajan and other officials.
Barriers to be broken
Radha Mohan Singh said that for the 'Mandi' to become successful, the physical barriers had to be brought down. While it was the barriers of districts within the state, at the national-level barriers, the ones between states had to be broken down for creating a national platform.
Referring to reports of 'dead soil' in the country, the minister listed out the various measures being taken for improving soil health, including soil health laboratories which would help determine the extent of ill-health of the 'Mother Earth'.
Underscoring the need for looking back before going forward, Singh stressed the need for plugging pilferage of the funds meant for irrigation, and said that in a bid to ensure water for every field, guidelines for chalking out the 'District Irrigation Plan' had been laid out.
Earlier, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Dinesh Gundurao read out the message of the chief minister addressed to the delegates, while Minister for Horticulture and Agriculture Marketing Shamanuru Shivashankarappa and Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda briefed about the 'Karnataka Model' which they said would go a long way in getting better returns for farmers.
Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner Latha Krishnarao said that despite the initial opposition, online trading platform for farm produce was possible in Karnataka because of the political will. Additional Chief Secretary of Cooperation Department Mahendra Jain and Additional Secretary of Cooperation Manoj Rajan took turns to elaborate on the Unified Market Platform (UMP).