G. Viswanathan, Founder and Chancellor, VIT, at the valedictory address of the eighth edition of Agri Expo 2026.
The Tamil Nadu government should take adequate steps to strengthen water management strategies to increase agricultural productivity and sustain the livelihood of farmers, said G. Viswanathan, founder and chancellor of VIT.
Addressing the valedictorians of the eighth edition of the Agri Expo 2026, organized by the VIT School of Agricultural Innovations and Advanced Learning (VAIAL) here, Mr. Viswanathan said that with a limited share of national water resources for an agrarian state like Tamil Nadu, water conservation remains the key to finding ways to increase agricultural productivity to meet the growing population. “Government should remove middlemen in the supply chain of agricultural produce, where farmers are already facing crop failures, mounting debts and insufficient remunerative prices,” he said.
The chancellor said the state government should undertake rehabilitation of around 41,000 irrigation tanks including desilting and dredging of these water bodies. It will help retain excess rainwater during monsoon. “Since Tamil Nadu gets only about three per cent of the country’s total water availability, the state government should restore small water bodies to store excess rainwater. Also, vigorous efforts should be made to interlink rivers,” he said.
Mr. Viswanathan said that although India has become the world’s fourth largest economy in terms of GDP, the country’s real growth depends on higher per capita income, which is low compared to developed countries. For example, India’s per capita income is around $2,900 and ranks 140th globally. In contrast, Japan’s per capita income is almost 12 times that of India.
The Expo featured 145 stalls with innovations including new banana varieties from the National Research Center for Bananas (NRCB), water saving technologies and fruit packaging equipment developed by VIT faculty.
On the occasion, awards were given to the outstanding stalls in the categories of Government, Private and Women Self Help Groups in the presence of K. Sundaravadivela, Additional Director (Management), Tamil Nadu Department of Agriculture.
Published – 07 Feb 2026 20:33 IST