If there is one sector that shows promise amidst the economic crisis post Covid-19, it is agriculture as the demand for food continues to grow. But in order to make it profitable, farmers should be encouraged to grow vegetables.

With huge diversity and shorter harvesting periods, vegetable crops could change the fortunes of farmers, experts said.

In a webinar organised by the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) on Friday, agri-economists, start-ups and representatives from the agricultural industry discussed how vegetables could significantly returns to farmers.

The webinar, with the theme Approaches and Strategies to support Vegetable Farming post-Covid, Ram Kaundinya, Director-General of FSII (Federation of Seed Industries of India), said that there was a need to have special focus on vegetables.

“At present, the focus is on the water-intensive crops such as paddy, wheat and sugarcane. There is little emphasis on vegetables. We should focus on vegetables to increase the income of farmers,” he said, moderating the session.

Surinder Tikoo, Partner and Director of Research at Tierra Seed Science, felt that mechanisation and drip irrigation will help small farmers that were into vegetable cultivation.

“Vegetable and fruit cultivation and marketing should become an organised sector like the milk sector in India,” he said.

“There, however, should be a mechanism that assures farmers of procurement and ensures a better share in the market share,” RN Bhasker, a journalist tracking the primary sector for long, has said.

“The share of vegetable farmers is about 10 per cent. They should get at least 50 per cent,” he felt.

MR Dinesh, Director of Indian Institute of Horticulture Research (IIHR-ICAR), has said that experiments had proved that protected cultivation could give 2-3 times higher yields.