Four-day Agrovision 2025 begins at RTMNU campus ground  With an aim to provide disease-free orange saplings to the farmers, the Government will set up a ‘Clean Plant Centre’ in Nagpur with an investment of Rs 70 crore. Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced this at the inaugural function of the four-day Agrovision 2025 on Friday, being held on RTMNU campus ground on Amravati Road. Chief Patron of Agrovision and Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari presided over the programme. Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Dattatray Bharne; Minister of State for Agriculture Adv Ashish Jaiswal, Minister of State for Cooperation Dr Pankaj Bhoyar; former minister Sudhir Mungantiwar; NDDB Chairman and Managing Director Dr Minesh Shah, and others were also present. Chouhan further said that the ‘Clean Plant Centre’ will offer high quality saplings to the farmers which will increase the yield of oranges.

 

In addition, the Government will also offer financial assistance to private nurseries to develop such saplings. “The Government will provide up to Rs 4 crore for large-scale nurseries and up to Rs 2 crore for small and medium nurseries to develop the saplings,” he added. Chouhan emphasised that farmers are the nation’s food providers and improving their standard of living remains the Government’s top priority. Shivraj Singh Chouhan also announced that the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) will now cover crop damages caused by wild animals and flooding or water-logging due to excessive rainfall.

 

“Earlier, damages due to these two reasons were not covered under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. But now both these damages are covered under the scheme . If wild animals damage the crops or crops are damaged due to water-logging, it will be compensated for,” said the Union Minister. In his address, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that on the lines of the Farmer Business School in Spain, a world-class Farmer Business School is being developed at the Agro-Convention Center located on the PDKV ground on the Amravati Road.

 

“This will benefit farmers not only from Vidarbha but also from across the country, boosting their economic growth,” he said, adding that several farmers benefited from a recent workshop held in Spain on orange-farming technology. Based on this training, farmers in Vidarbha and surrounding regions will be capable of producing 10 to 12 tonnes of oranges per acre in the coming years. Gadkari noted that Agrovision has worked for 16 years to bring transformation to farmers’ lives.

 

He requested the Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan to increase the number of authorised citrus nurseries so that farmers don’t have to wait for it. Dattatray Bharne advised the farmers to adopt good farming practices, use improved varieties, and make necessary changes for better outcomes. Earlier, Organising Secretary Ravi Boratkar delivered a welcome speech. Nagpur University Vice-Chancellor Dr Madhavi Khode-Chaware, PDKV Vice-Chancellor Dr Sharad Gadakh, MAFSU Vice-Chancellor Dr Nitin Patil, Global Corporate and Industry representative Sagar Kaushik, Mahindra Group President Vijay Ram Nakra, Agrovision Organising Committee advisors Dr C D Mayee and Dr Girish Gandhi, Ramesh Mankar, and Sudhir Dive were also present.