Union Minister Chirag Paswan provides roadmap to make India a global food basket

Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Chirag Paswan has set a target to develop India as a 'global food basket' for the world. He presented this vision during the inauguration of the two-day international conference 'Bharat Agriculture Conference 2026' organised at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. The conference is based on the theme 'Smart Kisan, Viksit Bharat' and has been organised by 'Kisan Tak'. On this occasion, Chirag Paswan emphasised the necessity of taking Indian agriculture to new heights, increasing farmers' income, and promoting food processing.

According to information provided by Aaj Tak, the Union Minister stated that such a platform is extremely important for an agrarian country like India. Here, farmers, agriculture experts, and industry representatives from different parts of the country can sit together and discuss ways to advance farming and farmers. He thanked the India Today Group for this organisation and expressed confidence that this dialogue, spanning two days, will bring far-reaching and positive results for the agriculture sector.

Describing farmers as the backbone of the country, Chirag Paswan said that despite India's vast population, the country has not had to face severe challenges like a global food crisis, for which the primary credit goes to the food providers and farmers. Recalling the past, he stated that there was a time when there was a severe shortage of grains in the country, but farmers worked day and night to pull India out of that situation. Today, India is not only capable of meeting its own food requirements but is also making a significant contribution to the food security of other countries.

However, the Union Minister acknowledged that much work remains to be done in the agriculture sector. He said that India has achieved great success in increasing food production and filling grain silos, but the time has now come to move beyond that. He emphasised that instead of limiting agricultural production to quantitative increases, it is necessary to focus on increasing its value.

Speaking about the need to work on 'value addition' beyond production, Chirag Paswan said that India focused a lot on increasing production, but for a long time, not as much work was done in the field of food processing as should have been. He clarified, "We increased production capacity, but much work remains in the direction of how to convert that production into value and how to present the produce as a product to the country and the world."

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'Atmanirbhar Bharat', he stated that the government's goal is to make the country self-reliant in every sector. In his vision, the Prime Minister has given an important place to agriculture and food processing along with manufacturing. It is only through food processing that Indian food items and traditional dishes can reach every corner of the world.

Expressing his dream, the Union Minister said that in the coming time, there should be no dining table in the world where at least one Indian food item is not present. He added that Indian farmers, the country's ideology, and talent possess this capability. Now, there is only a need to expand this system and connect more people with food processing. This will free farmers from the compulsion of selling their crops at low prices and they will receive the fair value of their produce.