Pawar advises small farmers to look outside agriculture

Pune, July 7 (UNI) Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today remarked that ''entrepreneurship'' among small farmers must be encouraged, as agriculture by itself could not sustain families.

Addressing a gathering after inaugurating a 250-bed Nobel hospital at ''Magarpatta' city here, Mr Pawar lauded the efforts of Satish Magar who was once a farmer but has developed the hospital and whose vision had made it possible for farmers to be shareholders in the development of their lands.

Mr Pawar said it was impossible for small farmers, who owned a few acres of land, to sustain their families and should, therefore, seek better opportunities outside agriculture.

Mr Pawar recalled the stretch of Hadapsar that was once a green belt had now become a township. Around 30,000 IT professionals were residing in Magarpatta City and twice the number were expected within a few years with software companies setting up offices.

Mr Pawar said in the automobile components sector in the coming years, the revenue would be Rs 75,000 crore from Pune region, employing three lakh engineers. He, however, cautioned that rapid urbanisation had caused stress on the infrastructure and burdened local self governing bodies and the state governments. The availability of water may become a serious problem. The demography of most major cities, especially in Maharashtra, was changing with the influx of people from other regions which was putting pressure on the available resources, he said.

UNI