Lok Sabha Question No. 183 (STARRED), answered on 2018-07-31
Subject: Plight of Farmers
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: PRATAPRAO GANPATRAO JADHAV

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION & FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 183

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 31 ST  JULY, 2018

## PLIGHT OF FARMERS

## *183.  SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV:

Will  the  Minister  of  AGRICULTURE  AND  FARMERS  WELFARE कृ षि एवं ककसान कल्याण ½ãâ¨ããè be pleased to state:

- (a): whether  a group of farmers in Buldhana district in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra has given any representation/letter seeking permission to commit suicide;
- (b): if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto;
- (c): the factors responsible for such a plight of the farmers;
- (d): whether the Government has taken any steps to deal with those factors; and
- (e): if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

- कृ षि एवं ककसान कल्याण ½ãâ¨ããè (SHRI RADHA MOHAN SINGH) (a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF  LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.  183   DUE FOR REPLY ON 31 ST  JULY, 2018.

(a) to (e): As per the information received from State Government of Mahrasthra, a group of farmers made a representation at the Sub Divisional Magistrate, Khamgaon, District Buldana, Maharashtra on 21.03.2018 asking for the permission to commit mass euthanasia as a part of their ongoing agitation mainly demanding that compensation of their  lands  which  had  been  acquired  according  to  the  National  Highway  Act,  1956 should be calculated according to the  Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation & Resettlement Act (RFCTLARR), 2013.

It  is  informed  that  Agriculture  is  a  State  subject.  Agrarian  distress  can  be addressed  by  enabling  the  farmers  to  increase  their  income.    The  Government  is targeting to double the income of the farmers by the year 2022.  To achieve this, the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers' Welfare has taken a number of measures.  The Government has been reorienting the agriculture sector by focusing on an income-centeredness which goes beyond achieving merely the targeted production. The  income  approach  focuses  on  achieving  high  productivity, reduced  cost of cultivation  and  remunerative  price  on  the  produce,  with  a  view  to  earn  higher  profits from farming. Various initiatives by way of schemes and policy reforms have been rolled out in consonance with this approach.  Further, these initiatives are supported by a big jump in the much needed budgetary allocations for the agriculture sector. For the period 2009-2014,  the  budget  for  agriculture  was  Rs.1,21,082  crore.  During  2014-2019,  the allocation  has  been  enhanced  by  74.5  per  cent  to  Rs.2,11,694  crore.  Besides,  Nonbudgetary resources have been mobilized to supplement budgetary resources. Following are the corpus fund created during 2014-19:

- Long Term Irrigation Fund (LTIF) to complete long pending 99 irrigation projects and  create  7.6  million  ha  of  irrigation  by  December  2019  -  Rs.40,000  crore (2016-17 and 2017-18). The total investment is expected to be Rs. 80,000 crore (approx)
- Micro Irrigation Fund for water use efficiency - Rs.5,000 crore (2017-18)
- Dairy Infrastructure Development Fund - Rs.10,881 crore (2017-18)
- Fisheries  and  Aqua  Culture  Infrastructure  Development  Fund  -  Rs.  7,522.48 crore (2018-19)
- Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund - Rs. 2,450 crore (2018-19)
- Agri-Market Infrastructure Fund - Rs. 2,000 crore (2018-19).

The  Department  has  been  implementing  various  schemes  for  betterment  of agriculture sector such as :

(i) Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme by which the farmers can know the major and minor  nutrients  available  in  their  soils  which  will  ensure  judicious  use  of  fertilizer application and thus save input cost of farmers.

(ii) Neem Coated Urea (NCU) is being promoted to regulate use of urea, enhance availability of nitrogen to the crop and reduce cost of fertilizer application.  NCU slows down the release of fertilizer and makes it available to the crop in an effective manner.

(iii)        Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) is being implemented with a view to promote organic farming in the country.

(iv)        Pradhan  Mantri  Krishi  Sinchayee  Yojana  (PMKSY)  was launched on 1st July, 2015  with  the  motto  of  'Har  Khet  Ko  Paani'  for  providing  end-to-end  solutions  in irrigation  supply  chain,  comprising  water  sources,  distribution  network  and  farm  level applications.

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(v) Electronic National Agriculture  Market (e-NAM ) which is an innovative market process  to  revolutionize  agri-markets  by  ensuring  better  price  discovery,  bringing  in transparency and competition to enable farmers to get improved remuneration for their produce moving towards 'One Nation One Market'. The Department has achieved the target of integration of 585 mandis with e-NAM by March 2018. Additional 200 mandies to be integrated by 2018-19 under e-NAM.

(vi) Existing 22,000  rural haats to  be  developed  and  upgraded  into  Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs). These GrAMs, electronically linked to e-NAM portal and exempted from regulations of Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs), will provide farmers facility to make direct sale to consumers and bulk purchasers.

(vii) The Model Agricultural Produce & Livestock Marketing (Promotion & Facilitation) Act,  2017  released  in  April,  2017  and  the  Model  Agricultural  Produce  &  Livestock Contract Farming and Services (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2018 released in May, 2018, for adoption by State/UTs, to promote alternative competitive marketing channels for better pricing for farmers and to encourage private investment in developing efficient marketing infrastructure and value chain.

(viii) Government has introduced Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) from Kharif 2016 to address the risks associated with agriculture.  PMFBY addresses all the shortcomings in the earlier schemes and is available to the farmers at very low rates of premium.  The  farmers  will  get  full  insurance  cover  as  there  is  no  capping  of  sum insured and consequently the claim amount is not curtailed or reduced. This scheme provides insurance cover at all stages of the crop cycle including post-harvest risks in specified instances.

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(ix)    The  Government  provides  total  interest  subvention  up  to  5%  (inclusive  of  3% prompt repayment incentive) on short-term crop loans up to Rs. 3.00 lakh. Thus, loan is available to farmers at a reduced rate of 4% per annum on prompt repayment.

(x)    The  Government  is  implementing  several  Centrally  Sponsored  Schemes  viz. National  Food  Security  Mission  (NFSM);  Mission  for  Integrated  Development  of Horticulture  (MIDH);  National  Mission  on  Oilseeds  &  Oilpalm  (NMOOP);  National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA); National Mission on Agricultural Extension &  Technology  (NMAET)  and  Rashtriya  Krishi  Vikas  Yojana  (RKVY)  for  benefit  of farmers.

Further, Minimum Support Price (MSP) is notified for both Kharif and Rabi crops based  on  the  recommendations  of  the  Commission  on  Agriculture  Costs  &  Prices (CACP).  The  Commission  collects  & analyses data on cost of activation  and recommends MSP.  In the budget for  2018-19  the  Government  had  announced  that MSP for all unannounced Kharif crops will be 1.5 times   the cost of production.  Giving a  major  boost  for  the  farmers  income,  the  Cabinet  Committee  on  Economic  Affairs (CCEA) in its meeting held on 04.07.2018  has approved the increase in the MSPs for all  Kharif  crops  for  2018-19  season  at  a  level  of  at  least  150  percent  of  the  cost  of production.  The  MSP  declared  during  2012-13  to  2018-19  for  various  crops  is  at Annexure.

## Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 183 due for 31.07.2018 Statement in respect  of Part (a) to (e) of the Question  regarding 'Plight of Farmers'

## 7 years MSP Statement

| Sl. No.   | Commodity                         | Variety       | 2012-13   | 2013-14   | 2014-15   | 2015-16   | 2016-17   | 2017-18   | 2018-19   |
|-----------|-----------------------------------|---------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
|           | KHARIF CROPS                      |               |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
| 1         | PADDY                             | Common        | 1250      | 1310      | 1360      | 1410      | 1470      | 1550      | 1750      |
|           |                                   | Grade 'A'     | 1280      | 1345      | 1400      | 1450      | 1510      | 1590      | 1770      |
| 2         | JOWAR                             | Hybrid        | 1500      | 1500      | 1530      | 1570      | 1625      | 1700      | 2430      |
|           |                                   | Maldandi      | 1520      | 1520      | 1550      | 1590      | 1650      | 1725      | 2450      |
| 3         | BAJRA                             |               | 1175      | 1250      | 1250      | 1275      | 1330      | 1425      | 1950      |
| 4         | MAIZE                             |               | 1175      | 1310      | 1310      | 1325      | 1365      | 1425      | 1700      |
| 5         | RAGI                              |               | 1500      | 1500      | 1550      | 1650      | 1725      | 1900      | 2897      |
| 6         | ARHAR(Tur)                        |               | 3850      | 4300      | 4350      | 4625^     | 5050^^    | 5450^     | 5675      |
| 7         | MOONG                             |               | 4400      | 4500      | 4600      | 4850^     | 5225^^    | 5575^     | 6975      |
| 8         | URAD                              |               | 4300      | 4300      | 4350      | 4625^     | 5000^^    | 5400^     | 5600      |
| 9         | COTTON                            | Medium Staple | 3600      | 3700      | 3750      | 3800      | 3860      | 4020      | 5150      |
|           |                                   | Long Staple   | 3900      | 4000      | 4050      | 4100      | 4160      | 4320      | 5450      |
| 10        | GROUNDNUT IN SHELL                |               | 3700      | 4000      | 4000      | 4030      | 4220*     | 4450^     | 4890      |
| 11        | SUNFLOWER SEED                    |               | 3700      | 3700      | 3750      | 3800      | 3950*     | 4100*     | 5388      |
| 12        | SOYABEEN                          | Black         | 2200      | 2500      | 2500      | -         | -         | -         | -         |
|           |                                   | Yellow ##     |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
|           |                                   |               | 2240      | 2560      | 2560      | 2600      | 2775*     | 3050^     | 3399      |
| 13        | SESAMUM                           |               | 4200      | 4500      | 4600      | 4700      | 5000^     | 5300*     | 6249      |
| 14        | NIGERSEED                         |               | 3500      | 3500      | 3600      | 3650      | 3825*     | 4050*     | 5877      |
|           | RABI CROPS                        |               |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
| 15        | WHEAT                             |               | 1350      | 1400      | 1450      | 1525      | 1625      | 1735      |           |
| 16        | BARLEY                            |               | 980       | 1100      | 1150      | 1225      | 1325      | 1410      |           |
| 17        | GRAM                              |               | 3000      | 3100      | 3175      | 3500**    | 4000^     | 4400@     |           |
| 18        | MASUR (LENTIL)                    |               | 2900      | 2950      | 3075      | 3400**    | 3950@     | 4250*     |           |
| 19        | RAPESEED/MUSTARD                  |               | 3000      | 3050      | 3100      | 3350      | 3700*     | 4000*     |           |
| 20        | SAFFLOWER                         |               | 2800      | 3000      | 3050      | 3300      | 3700*     | 4100*     |           |
| 21        | TORIA                             |               | 2970      | 3020      | 3020      | 3290      | 3560      | 3900*     |           |
|           | OTHER CROPS                       |               |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
| 22        | COPRA                             | Milling       | 5100      | 5250      | 5250      | 5550      | 5950      | 6500      | 7511      |
|           | (Calender Year)                   | Ball          | 5350      | 5500      | 5500      | 5830      | 6240      | 6785      | 7750      |
| 23        | DE-HUSKED COCONUT (Calender Year) |               | 1400      | 1425      | 1425      | 1500      | 1600      | 1760      | 2030      |
| 24        | JUTE                              |               | 2200      | 2300      | 2400      | 2700      | 3200      | 3500      | 3700      |
| 25        | SUGARCANE#                        |               | 170       | 210       | 220       | 230       | 230       | 255       | 275       |

(Rs per quintal)

- # Fair and remunerative price. ## Single MSP of Soyabean (yellow) is recommended by CACP since 2015-16,  as black variety of soyabean is no longer cultivated in major producing states.  Since 2015-16,MSP of Soyabean yellow is also applicable to black variety
* Including Bonus of Rs. 100 per quintal.
- ** Including Bonus of Rs. 75 per quintal .
- ^ Including Bonus of Rs. 200 per quintal.
- ^^ Including Bonus of Rs. 425 per quintal.
- @ including bonus of Rs. 150 per quintal

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