Overview

• The campaign launched on May 29 sends 2,170 teams of scientists to over 65,000 villages, aiming to engage roughly 15 million farmers before it ends on June 12.
• Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s visits to Patiala and the Rauni KVK stressed crop diversification and the adoption of water-saving techniques like direct-seeded rice.
• Following the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, the government outlined steps to channel water from the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab rivers to farmers in five states.
• Chouhan pledged to introduce stringent laws against suppliers of fake pesticides and address farmers’ grievances over di-ammonium phosphate shortages and low procurement prices for alternative crops.
• At a Punjab Agricultural University event on June 6, the minister urged 16,000 agricultural scientists to step into fields and tailor research to real farm challenges under the “lab-to-land” approach.