New Delhi [India] : Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said that Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana Yojana has benefited 38 lakh farmers and assisted 2.4 lakh self-help groups (SHGs).
Presenting the interim budget 2024 in Parliament, Sitharaman noted that the scheme uses modern infrastructure and supply chain management to ease the transfer of farm goods from farmers to retail outlets.
“The efforts for value addition in the agricultural sector and boosting farmers’ income will be stepped up. The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana has benefited 38 lakh farmers and generated 10 lakh employment. Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Yojana has assisted 2.4 lakh SHGs and sixty thousand individuals with credit linkages. Other schemes are complementing the efforts for reducing post-harvest losses, and improving productivity and incomes,” Finance Minister said on Thursday.
Terming farmers as our ‘Annadata’, Sitharaman stated that minimum support prices for the produce of ‘Annadata’ are periodically increased appropriately.
The Finance Minister said that every year, under PM-KISAN SAMMAN Yojana, direct financial assistance is provided to 11.8 crore farmers, including marginal and small farmers, while crop insurance is given to 4 crore farmers under PM Fasal Bima Yojana.
She stated that these, besides several other programmes, are assisting ‘Annadata’ in producing food for the country and the world and added that the worries about food have been eliminated through free ration for 80 crore people.
“The sector is poised for inclusive, balanced, higher growth and productivity. These are facilitated from farmer-centric policies, income support, coverage of risks through price and insurance support, promotion of technologies and innovations through start-ups.”, the Finance Minister mentioned in her speech.
She added that the government will promote private and public investment in post-harvest activities, including storage and processing.
“To ensure faster growth of the sector, the government will further promote private and public investment in post-harvest activities, including aggregation, modern storage, efficient supply chains, primary and secondary processing, and marketing and branding,” she added.
Apart from these, the Finance Minister also announced a comprehensive programme to support dairy farmers and tackle foot and mouth disease among cattle.
“A comprehensive programme for supporting dairy farmers will be formulated. Efforts are already on to control foot and mouth disease. India is the world’s largest milk producer but with low productivity of milch animals. The programme will be built on the success of existing schemes such Rashtriya Gokul Mission, the National Livestock Mission, and Infrastructure Development Funds for dairy processing and animal husbandry,” she said.
Lauding the establishment of a separate fisheries department, the Finance Minister informed the Parliament that the PM Matsya Sampada Yojana has helped double seafood exports from 2013-14. The scheme will be boosted to generate 55 lakh jobs and boost exports to Rs 1 lakh crore.
“It was our government that set up a separate Department for Fisheries, realising the importance of assisting fishermen. This has resulted in a doubling of both inland and aquaculture production. Seafood exports since 2013-14 have also doubled,” she added.
Nirmala Sitharaman has said a strategy will be formulated to achieve ‘atmanirbharta’ for oil seeds such as mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean, and sunflower.
The Finance Minister mentioned in her speech that this will cover research for high-yielding varieties, widespread adoption of modern farming techniques, market linkages, procurement, value addition, and crop insurance.
Mentioning Nano DAP, she said that after the successful adoption of Nano Urea, application of Nano DAP to various crops will be expanded in all agro-climatic zones.”
