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21 June 2018
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Agri
(The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions)
Reaching out to farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today
showcased his government’s “unprecedented” work in the agriculture sector,
including doubling of the budget to Rs 2.12 lakh crore. Modi also reiterated
that his government is working to double farm income by 2022. Continuing his
outreach programme of direct interaction with beneficiaries of his pet schemes,
Modi spoke to farmers from over 600 districts via video-conferencing,
highlighting the government interventions right from seeds to market that is
aimed at addressing farm distress. The government, through an extensive and
balanced policy, is aiming to provide inputs like quality seeds, fertilisers,
water and electricity as well as markets for increasing farmers’ income, he
said.
“We have decided to double farmers income by
2022… When I talked about doubling of farmers income, there were many people
who made fun that this is not possible and difficult. They created an
atmosphere of doom. But we decided as I had full faith in farmers,” Modi said.
To achieve this target, he said the four cornerstones of the government policy
are cutting input cost, fair price for the crop, preventing post-harvest losses
and creating alternate sources of income. Modi said in the Budget for 2018-19
fiscal, the government announced that the minimum support price (MSP) for all
crops will be fixed at least 1.5 times the cost of production. He also listed
out all the costs that will be included while fixing the MSP.
“The budget allocation for the agriculture
sector in 5 years of the previous government was Rs 1.21 lakh crore. This has
been increased to Rs 2.12 lakh crore during 2014-19, which is almost double.
This clearly reflects our commitment to farmers welfare,” Modi said. Stating
that there has been “unprecedented development” in the farm sector during the last
four years, the Prime Minister highlighted that foodgrains production in the
country touched an all-time high of 280 million tonnes during 2017-18 crop year
as against an average production of 250 million tonnes during 2010-14.
There has also been bumper production of
fruits, vegetables and milk, he said, adding that pulses production has
increased by an average 10.5 per cent. Production of fish and milk grew by 26
per cent and 24 per cent, respectively. Egg output has risen by 25 per cent.
“Our effort is to provide farmers assistance at all stage of agriculture — at
the time of sowing, after sowing and at the time of harvesting,” he said,
adding the policy interventions are being planned to help farmers right from
seeds to markets. First, soil health cards are being provided to help farmers
better understand soil nutrient status of his/her holding and advice them on
the dosage of fertilisers.
Thereafter, loans are being made available to
farmers to help them procure good quality seeds, he said, adding neem coating
of urea has ensured that black-marketing of the crop nutrient is stopped and
farmers get it without any problem. To ensure farmers get the right price for
their crops, Modi said an online platform e-NAM has been started to eliminate
middlemen. As many as 22,000 rural markets are also being linked to wholesale
mandis. The government is also giving special attention to allied sectors like
fisheries, dairy and bee-keeping to boost farmers income, he added. The Prime
Minister said farmers should get full credit for ensuring the country’s food
security but rued that “from the beginning, farmers were left to fend for
themselves” which resulted in their shrinking prosperity.
Modi highlighted the various initiatives
launched by the government in the last four years such as soil health cards,
new crop insurance scheme, irrigation programme and e-NAM, among others. Under
Prime Minister Krishi Sinchaee Yojna, Modi said about 100 projects are being
completed so that water reaches all agriculture fields. The government is
promoting drip irrigation to achieve “per drop more crop” and reduce input
cost. Modi said farmers can increase their income by value-addition of farm
produce.
The Prime Minister highlighted that more than
500 farmer producers organisations have been established in the last four years
which help farmers in getting more sales realisation with lower input costs.
These FPOs have been exempted from income tax. Talking about the new crop
insurance scheme, Modi said farmers were not getting any claim under the
previous scheme. “We have reduced premium and scope of insurance has been
widened,” he said, adding that this has helped in increasing the insurance
coverage by 60-65 per cent.
Modi said the government has provided soil
health cards to 12.5 crore farmers in the last four years, helping farmers to
boost yields and cut input cost. Interacting with farmers from the North-East,
he said 21 lakh hectares have been brought under organic farming as against 7
lakh hectares in 2013-14.The Total
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