PM to release 'Vision 2050' for agriculture in Patna: Radha Mohan Singh

Modi will also inaugurate three new projects - Farmers First, Arya and Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav - to stress on the 'lab to land' concept of the Centre

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release 'Vision 2050' prepared by the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) in Patna on July 25, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today said.

"The Prime Minister will be the chief guest at ICAR foundation day celebrations here and release 'Vision 2050' for agriculture prepared by it to tackle the challenges of future," Singh told reporters.

The ICAR foundation day celebrations is being organised outside Delhi for the first time.

He said Modi will also inaugurate three new projects - Farmers First, Arya and Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav (My village my pride) - to stress on the 'lab to land' concept of the Centre.

On that day, the PM will ask agriculture scientists from all over the country to speed up the 'lab to land' approach, intended to provide new technologies to farmers, which will lead to a quantum jump in agriculture productivity.

The Agriculture Minister said Patna was chosen to host ICAR foundation day celebrations because Bihar has an important place in the history of agricultural research.

The country's first agriculture research and education institute - 'Indian Agricultural Research Institute', then known as Imperial Institute of Agricultural Research, was established at Pusa in Samastipur district here in 1905.

Modi will also award 82 persons including agricultural scientists, farmers and journalists writing on agriculture issues on the occasion. The awards include the prestigious Norman Borlaug Award. He will also provide 'soil testing kits' to young agriculture entrepreneurs.