Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan inaugurated the Western Regional Agriculture Conference at Jaipur on April 7, 2026, the first of a nationwide series of region-wise consultations being held across April-May 2026 under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Jaipur meet brought together agriculture ministers and senior officers from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa to chalk out a joint roadmap for the upcoming kharif season. Chouhan said the agenda was anchored in three goals — ensuring food security, raising farmers' income, and providing nutritious food. He outlined a six-point strategy: increasing agricultural production, reducing input costs, ensuring fair prices for produce, compensating losses from natural disasters, promoting crop diversification, and encouraging modern technologies. Major thrusts included a big push for self-reliance in oilseeds and pulses to cut import dependence, accelerated rollout of the Farmer ID under the Agri Stack, scaling up natural farming, and region-specific crop strategies tailored to agro-climatic zones. The Northern Region Conference will follow in Lucknow on April 17, the Eastern Region in Bhubaneswar on April 24, and Hyderabad and Guwahati conferences will be held by end-May. Rajasthan CM Bhajan Lal Sharma described the initiative as a turning point for centre-state synergy in agriculture, given that the western states represented at Jaipur account for a significant share of India's pulses, oilseeds and horticulture output.