SME Times News Bureau | 21 Jul, 2021
The government is following a strategy to higher the
volume of output through higher productivity, lower cost of production and higher
real remunerative returns on the farmers’ produce in order to double the income
of farmers, said Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra
Singh Tomar in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
In case of production the farmers have been
registering higher productivity across all segments of Agriculture. There has
been record growth in total output of food grains, oilseeds, horticulture, milk
and so on.
The annual production under various sectors has
increased appreciably as seen at the end of the year 2020-21. These include a
food grains output of 303.34 MTs as against 252.23 MTs(2015-16); 326.58 MTs of
fruits & vegetables as against 259.3 MTs (2015-16); 208 MTs of milk as
against 155.49 MTs (2015-16).
Major emphasis
has been on post-harvest management, which is helping farmers in
getting better returns on their produce.
These include
e-NAM, new state marketing Act, direct trade, contract farming, FPOs,
agri-logistics, food processing and so on besides healthier procurement
operations.
Government’s
emphasis on robust procurement of agricultural produce has also ensured better
returns to farmers and served as an incentive.
In addition to
increases in procurement of paddy & wheat through FCI, the quantum of
procurement of pulses & oilseeds has leap frogged since 2014-15. Under the
new procurement scheme called PM-AASHA, NAFED has been procuring much more than
before.
As of now, there is no latest estimate of annual
income of farmers achieved and the percentage annual increase vis-a-vis the
base year 2015-16.
For the purpose of arriving at the average annual
income for the year 2015-16, the DFI Committee extrapolated the NSSO survey
based income estimates for the year 2012-13, and estimated that average farmers
income stands at Rs. 96,703/- per year for the year 2015-16 at 2015-16 prices.
PM-KISAN is an ongoing and continuous Scheme. The
entire responsibility of identification of beneficiaries rests with the State /
UT Governments.
An exclusive web-portal www.pmkisan.gov.in has
been launched for the Scheme. The financial benefits are released to the
beneficiaries on the basis of the data of farmers prepared and uploaded by them
on the PM-KISAN web-portal.
The data uploaded by the State/UT Governments
undergoes three levels of validation. Data that passes all three levels of
validation is then processed for the release of benefits. Any data that is
found incorrect is sent back to the respective States/UTs for correction.
Budgetary allocations are made at the beginning
of financial year based on the anticipated expenditure to be incurred in the
financial year, however, any additional requirement of funds based on the
actual expenditure is fulfilled by the Government by way of supplementary
grants.
The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)
Scheme is being implemented with a view to provide income support to all
landholding farmer families across the country, to enable them to take care of
expenses related to agriculture and allied activities as well as domestic
needs.