Lack of value addition in the agriculture sector is responsible for poor economic health of Indian farmers, according to President Pranab Mukherjee.

Addressing the `International Conference on Sustainable Agriculture for Food & Livelihood Security' at the Ludhiana-based Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) on Tuesday, Mr. Mukherjee said that governments launched several schemes to uplift farmers' economic condition but the objective could not be achieved due to a lack of value addition in the sector.

Speaking on the topic, he said, "The lack of value addition in the farm sector is the reason for the poor economic health of farmers in our country though state governments as well as the Centre have formulated a number of schemes to uplift their economic condition."

The President added that there was a great need of food processing in the sector and also of making farmers aware of its advantages.

He also said that the government has plans to build thirty mega food parks in order to address the problem of food processing and avoid the wastage of food grains. He called for more research in the area to make sure that farmers become economically independent and self reliant.

Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil was also present at the conference. He stressed that there was need to use water in a judicious way and also to diversify crops to tackle impacts of change in climatic conditions.

The conference was organized as part of the Punjab Agricultural University's golden jubilee celebrations.