PM Modi calls South India university of agri; urges scientists to see fields as live labs

COIMBATORE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said South India has been a living university of agriculture, and India is on the path to becoming the global hub of natural farming.

Speaking at the inauguration of the South India Natural Farming Summit 2025 here, the prime minister urged farmers to begin and practice ‘one acre, one season’ of natural farming. He appealed to scientists and research institutions to make natural farming a core part of the agricultural curriculum, encouraging them to treat farmers' fields as live laboratories.

“Integrated cultivation on small plots reflects the core philosophy of natural farming. This mode should be promoted pan India. State governments should consider how these practices could be implemented in different regions of the country,” he said.

The PM also noted that Coimbatore region is home to some of the world's oldest functioning dams, highlighting the significance of the Kalingarayan canal that was built here in the 13th century. The temple tanks in this region became models of decentralised water conservation systems and this land pioneered scientific water engineering thousands of years ago by regulating river water for agriculture.

At the farm summit, organised by Tamil Nadu Natural Farming Stakeholders Forum at Codissia Trade Fair Complex, PM Modi said, “The youth are increasingly recognising agriculture as a modern and scalable opportunity to empower the rural economy. The country’s agriculture is on the cusp of major transformation.”

The prime minister released the 21st instalment of PM-KISAN, amounting to more than ₹18,000 crore to above nine crore farmers across the country. “Under this scheme, four lakh crore has been directly transferred to the bank accounts of small farmers so far, enabling them to meet various agricultural needs,” he said.

Claiming that his government is committed to taking the ‘super food’ of millets to global markets, Modi reiterated his appeal for promoting multi-crop agriculture over monoculture.

“Our goal must be to make natural farming a fully science-backed movement. Over the past few years, 10,000 Farmer-Producer Organisations (FPOs) have been formed in the country. With their support, small farmer clusters can be created, equipped with facilities for cleaning, packaging, and processing, and directly linked to online markets like e-NAM,” he said.

Highlighting that over the past 11 years, the entire agricultural sector has undergone significant change, Modi said India’s farm exports have nearly doubled, and the government has opened every possible avenue to support farmers in modernising agriculture.