Lok Sabha Question No. 99 (STARRED), answered on 2018-07-24
Subject: National Commission for Farmers
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: KAPIL MORESHWAR PATIL

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

## LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 99

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 24 TH  JULY, 2018

## NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR FARMERS

- *99.     SHRI KAPIL MORESHWAR PATIL:

Will  the  Minister  of  AGRICULTURE  AND  FARMERS  WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण ½ãâ¨ããè be pleased to state:

- (a) the major recommendations made by the National Commission for Farmers;
- (b) the status of implementation of these recommendations;
- (c) whether  farmers  are  still  facing  problems  despite  the  follow-up  action  taken  by various stakeholders on the recommendations of the Commission;
- (d) if so, the details thereof along with the reasons therefor; and
- (e) the  comprehensive  measures  taken  by  the  Government  to  address  the  various problems faced by the farmers?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

- कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण 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.  99   DUE FOR REPLY ON 24 TH  JULY, 2018.

(a) & (b): Government had constituted the National Commission on Farmers (NCF) under the Chairmanship of Dr. M. S. Swaminathan in 2004. The Commission submitted five  reports  to  the  Government.  The  major  recommendations  of  the  Commission contained  in  the  five  reports  were  included  in  the  'Draft  National  Policy  for  Farmers' submitted  by  the  Commission  itself  in  2006.  Based  on  the  'Draft  National  Policy  for Farmers', the Government approved the National Policy for Farmers (NPF)-2007, which aims to improve economic viability of farming and increase net income of farmers.

Policy provisions in NPF-2007 include, inter-alia,  (i) asset reforms in respect of land, water, livestock, fisheries and bio-resources; (ii) supply of good quality seeds and disease-free  planting  material,  (iii)  issue  of  soil  health  passbooks  to  the  farmers  and integrated  pest  management  system;  (iv)  region  and  crop  specific  implements  and machinery;  (v)  support  services  for  women;  (vi)  timely,  adequate  and  easy  reach  of institutional credit at reasonable interest rates and farmer-friendly insurance instruments;  (vii)  support  services  and  inputs  like  application  of  frontier  technologies; (viii)  agricultural  bio-security  system;  (ix)  use  of  Information  and  Communication Technology (ICT) and setting up of farm schools to revitalize agricultural extension; (x) coverage  of  farmers  under  a  comprehensive  national  social  security  scheme;  (xi) effective  implementation  of  Minimum  Support  Price  (MSP)  across  the  country  and establishing  community  foodgrain  banks;  (xii)  development  of  agricultural  market infrastructure and terminal markets for agriculture; (xiii) curriculum reforms in agricultural  universities;  (xiv)  special  categories  of  farming  like  organic  farming  and contract  farming;  (xv)  rural  non-farm  employment  initiative  for  farm  households;  and (xvi) integrated approach for rural energy, etc.

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After the approval of NPF 2007, in keeping with Para 12.2 of the NPF 2007, an Inter-Ministerial Committee was set up under the Chairmanship of the Principal Adviser in  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and  Cooperation  for  preparation  of  a  Plan  of  Action (PoA) for Operationalisation of the Policy. The Committee identified 201 Action Points from NPF, 2007, where necessary action had to be taken.  Of the 201 number of action points identified, 192 numbers have already been implemented as of date. The various schemes/programmes/missions  adopted  by  the  Ministry  are  based  on  the  National Policy for Farmers-2007.

(c) to (e): Agriculture being as a State subject, the State Governments are primarily responsible  for  the  growth  and  development  of  agriculture  sector  and  developing perspective plans for their respective States and ensuring effective implementation of the  programmes/schemes. However,  Government of India supplements the efforts of the State Governments through various Schemes/ Programmes.

To address the various problems faced by the farmers, the Government has set a  target  of  doubling  of  farmers'  income  by  the  year  2022.  The  Government  has constituted an Inter-Ministerial  Committee under the Chairmanship of  Chief Executive Officer,  National  Rainfed  Area  Authority,  Department  of  Agriculture,  Cooperation  and Farmers  Welfare  to  examine  issues  relating  to  doubling  of  farmers'  income  and recommend a strategy to achieve doubling of farmers' income in real terms by the year 2022.   At present, thirteen volumes prepared by the Committee have been uploaded on the  website  of  this  Department  (http://agricoop.nic.in/doubling-farmers)  for  seeking public opinion.

The Government is aiming to reorient agriculture sector by focusing on income centeredness  in  addition  to  pure  production-  centeredness.  A  farmer's  income  is  a basket  of  earnings  from  agriculture  (including  horticulture),  allied  activities  like  dairy, livestock,  poultry,  fishery  etc.  and  ancillary  activities  like  beekeeping  etc.  Apart  from these  farm  incomes,  he  also  earns  from  other  activities  like  wage  labour,  off-farm activities etc.  Earnings from agriculture constitute the principal source of income of a farmer.

There  has  been  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. Non-budgetary resources have been mobilized to supplement budgetary resources.  Following are the corpus fund created during 201419:

- 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).

-4-

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.

(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 mandis 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.

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(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.

(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.

*****

## Annexure

## Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 99 for 24.07.2018 statement in respect of part (c) to (e) of the question regarding 'National Commission for 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       |

- # 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

(Rs per quintal)