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Govt working to connect agricultural mandis with a national platform
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Wednesday, 19 October, 2016, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, New Delhi
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fiogf49gjkf0d To ensure better prices for the farmers’ produce, the government is working to connect all agricultural mandis with a national platform. By next year, all 585 mandis will be connected to a common single market, where farmers would be able to sell their produce for a better price.
This was stated by agriculture and farmers’ welfare minister Radha Mohan Singh at a regional editors’ conference in Chandigarh. He added that direct benefit transfer to farmers under various schemes would be made possible in the near future.
The government is committed to ensuring the prosperity and welfare of farmers, for which it has taken a number of initiatives in the last two-and-a-half years. Within four years, the objective of water to every field will be achieved. Improved irrigation facilities with long-term irrigation fund and better management initiated by this government will help achieve the target.
Singh said the government was working for the financial empowerment of the farmers through various ways. The credit flow to the agriculture sector has been increased to Rs 9 lakh crore and to redue the pressure of loans on farmers, Rs 15,000 crore has been allocated for interest subvention.
The minister said the Centre was already providing five per cent interest subsidy to the banks out of nine per cent being charged by them for agricultural loans. He appealed to the state governments to provide the remaining four per cent from their exchequer, so that farmers can get agricultural loan at zero per cent.
Reiterating that the government is committed to ensuring a twofold increase in the incomes of farmers, Singh said that besides the increase in the minimum support price (MSP), other schemes have been taken up to raise the incomes of the farmers.
He added that agro-forestry was being encouraged, some new programmes like Medh Par Ped had been initiated and extension and capacity-building support was being provided to farmers for additional incomes.
Singh announced that by next year, about 14 crore farmers would get soil health cards and significant numbers would get the insurance cover. He stated that the premium, under the Prime Minister Fasal Bima Scheme, had been reduced significantly with full coverage of the loss.
The minister said that under the soil health card scheme, Rs 368.30 crore had been allocated this year, compared to Rs 142 crore last year. He added that an allocation of Rs 5,500 crore in the year 2016-17 budget had been made under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. The allocation in the previous budget was Rs 3,185 crore.
This was an increase of about 73 per cent in this scheme. Subsequently, Rs 500 crore had also been allocated by the finance minister, and there is a further demand for Rs 10,583 crore.
Singh said that his ministry had decided to set up 150 seed hubs in the country to increase the production of pulses. Each hub produces 1,000 quintals of quality seeds, which will be provided to farmers. He expressed hope that all the farmer-friendly measures of the government will bring prosperity to them.
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