Union minister for agriculture and farmers welfare Radha Mohan Singh has assured that despite continuous low rainfall in the last two consecutive years, his ministry is working to double farmer’s income by 2022, a goal set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The initiatives taken under leadership of PM Modi for the welfare of farmers and the agriculture sector have started showing positive and encouraging results. We have faced poor rainfall, drought and several other natural calamities but have managed to get a 4.4 per cent growth in agriculture and allied sectors,” Singh said during a media briefing on Monday (22 May), highlighting three years of achievements of his ministry under the Modi government.
He said the NDA government has succeeded in creating awareness among farmers about initiatives taken for the development of the agriculture sector. He further claimed that while the previous governments were not using the allocated budget for agriculture between 2011 and 2014, his government has increased budgetary provisions for farmer welfare from few Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 1 trillion and has planned another 58 per cent hike for the current financial year.
The agriculture minister quoted many initiatives that his ministry has taken in last three years that include advance steps such as pulses and oil seed production enhancement, smooth availability of fertilisers to farmer, soil health card scheme for farmers at local level and soil health card, which helped the farmers save expenses in farming.
He also stated the government’s emphasis on organic farming, new crop insurance initiatives, disaster relief fund for farmers, formation of farmer’s producer organisation and efforts in agriculture allied area.
When asked about Union ministers’ views on farmers’ loan waiver, Singh said, “These are state governments that are waiving off the loans. The Union government favours lower interest rates over loan waivers, our emphasis is upon their training, so that they can face challenges,” adding that the central government was pushing hard for a more transparent loan system in India.
BW Reporters
The author is correspondent with BW Businessworld
