India, March 7 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asked farmers to leverage India's diverse climate to increase productivity and export strength, and stressed scaling up high-value crop production to make the country's agri products globally competitive.

Addressing a post-budget webinar on 'Agriculture and Rural Transformation', Modi called for a "unified approach involving experts, industry, and farmers to meet global quality and branding standards", and highlighted the importance of setting clear goals to connect local farmers with global markets.

"Today, the world markets are opening, and global demand is shifting... It is necessary to have more discussion on making our agriculture export-oriented. We have a diverse climate, a...