At the 15th meeting of BRICS Agriculture Ministers, India reaffirmed its commitment to inclusive, equitable, and sustainable agriculture. Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan emphasized the need to place the welfare of small and marginal farmers at the centre of global agricultural strategies and clarified that agriculture, for India, is not merely an economic activity, but a source of livelihood, food, and dignity for millions of families. He underscored that global food security and rural development goals would remain incomplete unless small farmers are protected and empowered.
Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan highlighted that the world’s 510 million smallholder farmers are the backbone of the global food system and are also the most vulnerable in the face of climate change, price volatility, and resource scarcity. Chouhan stated that we cannot leave smallholders to fight these challenges alone; they need our policy support. He presented cluster-based farming, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), cooperative models, and natural farming as effective approaches for the collective empowerment of small farmers and improving their market access. The meeting underlined the need to make agricultural trade fair, control global price volatility, and ensure remunerative prices for small farmers. He reiterated the importance of public food stockholding systems, minimum support prices (MSP), and value chains that connect smallholders directly to consumers. Shri Chouhan cited India’s food storage and distribution capacity during the COVID-19 crisis as a case in point, through which free rations were distributed to over 800 million people.
