India holds 142 million hectares of arable land in 137 million farm households and has 46 of the 60 soil\ud
types in the world with 15 agro climatic zones varying from arid to humid tropics, hot arid deserts to\ud
cold deserts with varying annual rainfall 11,873 mm at Mawsynram, Meghalaya to 166 mm at Jaisalmer,\ud
Rajasthan. It is the largest producer of spices, pulses, milk, tea, cashew and jute; and the second largest\ud
producer of wheat, rice, fruits and vegetables, sugarcane, cotton and oilseeds.\ud
Inspite of these remarkable figures, agriculture contributes to only 17% to the national gross domestic\ud
product value by 56 per cent of population engaged in farming. The stagnated growth rate of 3.1 % and\ud
food security for the ever-growing population in India along with poverty amongst rural population\ud
has always been a challenging task. In order to tackle this situation, a total of 60 selected participants\ud
representing Department of Agriculture, Government of India, national research institutions, state\ud
agricultural universities, corporates, international research centres and NGO groups brainstormed on the\ud
topic of doubling farmers’ income by the year 2022 as envisioned by Hon. Prime Minister of India Shri\ud
Narendra Modi..