The President's Secretariat shall be hosting a workshop on "Policy initiatives for promoting partnership between stakeholders in agriculture with particular reference to rainfed /dryland farming." The workshop shall be addressed by the President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Union Minister of Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Shri Sharad Pawar and the Union Minister of Finance Shri Pranab Mukherjee amongst others.

During the one day workshop, four sessions will be held. The first will be on policy initiatives to remove factors impeding rapid growth in rainfed/dryland farming. The session will be chaired by the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Shri N.N. Vohra. The second session shall be on knowledge management for sustainable agriculture. The session shall be chaired by the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Dr. Raman Singh. The third session will be on farmer - industry partnership - a paradigm shift for integrated growth in rainfed farming. This session will be chaired by the Union Minister of Corporate Affairs, Shri Veerappa Moily. The last session shall be on farmer's organizations key to partnership - need for policy initiatives. The session will be chaired by the Chief Minister of Haryana, Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

The workshop will be attended by Chief Ministers, Governors, Lt. Governors, Union Ministers, Ministers from various States, Union Government officials, officials from State Governments, Vice-Chancellors of Agricultural Universities as well as representatives of private companies and entrepreneurs.

This release issued at 1830 hrs.