Lok Sabha Question No. 104 (STARRED), answered on 2018-12-18
Subject: Revival of Agrarian Sector
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: J. JAYASINGH THIYAGARAJ NATTERJEE

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

## LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 104

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 18 TH  DECEMBER, 2018

## REVIVAL OF AGRARIAN SECTOR

## *104.     SHRI J.J.T. NATTERJEE:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

- (a) whether Indian agriculture is confronted with high price volatility, climate risks and indebtedness and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the farmer's welfare/ supporting programmes and schemes are disjointed and function independently of each other now and if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) whether the Government has any practical solution for reviving the agrarian sector which would reduce the agrarian distress and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी

(SHRI RADHA MOHAN SINGH)

- (a) to (c): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (c)  OF  LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 104    DUE FOR REPLY ON 18 TH  DECEMBER, 2018.

(a): Indian agriculture is confronted with high price volatility and climate risk for which adequate preparedness has been put in place. Price of any agriculture commodity at any point  of  time  depends  on  its  demand  and  supply,  climate  conditions,  availability  of transportation, perishable nature of crops, which may give rise to price volatility.

Due to occurrence of localized extreme climate events like drought, frost, hailstorms etc, crops are affected in some parts of the country, resulting in some crop loss. Climate change  will  have  negative  effects  on  the  yields  globally    including  India,  due  to  both temperature  rise  and  change  in  water  availability,  in  a  business  as  usual  scenario.  The steps taken by the Government for adequate preparedness in the face of climate change include development of climate  resilient varieties  and  activities  under  National  Mission  for Sustainable  Agriculture  (NMSA).  Indian  Council  of  Agricultural  Research  (ICAR)  has developed 45 climate resilient Integrated farming system models which are being replicated in all Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) for demonstration.  Climate resilient villages have been developed, one in each 151 districts. Climate Vulnerability Atlas have been prepared under National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA).  ICAR has also developed District  Agriculture  Contingency  Plan  for  633  districts  in  order  to  give  real  time  agro advisories  for  overcoming  climate  risks.    Due  to  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government, despite climate risks, the overall crop production in the country is on the increasing trend.

Farmers can be indebted to both Institutional and non-institutional sources of credit. Borrowing from non-institutional sources is the major reason for debt.  In order to reduce the  dependence of farmers on private money lenders for meeting their credit needs and providing  relief  to  the  indebted  farmers,  Government  has  taken  several  measures  to increase institutional credit flow and bringing down the rate of interest on farm loans.

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Under the Interest Subvention Scheme, the Government is providing short-term crop loan upto Rs. 3 lakh for a period of one year to farmers at a subvented interest rate of 4% per annum in case of prompt repayment of the loan against the normal lending rate of 9%. Thus on prompt repayment the farmers get Interest Subvention of 5% per annum.

The agricultural credit flow achievement is Rs. 9.16 lakh crore for the year 2015-16, Rs. 10.66 lakh crore for 2016-17 and Rs. 11.69 lakh crore (provisional) for 2017-18.  The credit flow achievements have surpassed the targets fixed for these years.

Further,  with  a  view  to  provide  better  insurance  coverage  to  crops  for  all  stages including post harvest risks for risk mitigation, Government has launched a crop insurance scheme namely Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima  Yojana  (PMFBY) from Kharif 2016  season. 2,69,69,404  farmers  benefited  by  way  of  payment  of  claims  Rs.10,482.86  crore  during Kharif 2016, 36,52,284 farmers benefited by way of payment of claims Rs.5,796.39 crore during  Rabi  2016-17  and  1,39,83,661    farmers  benefited  by  way  of  payment  of  claims Rs.16,967.92 crore during Kharif 2017 under PMFBY.

(b):            The  farmer's  welfare/  supporting  programmes  and  schemes  are  not  disjointed. Agriculture sector development involves various stages including pre-production, production,  harvesting,  post-harvesting  and  marketing.  Various  supporting  programmes and  schemes  for  farmers  welfare  have  been  provided  by  the  Government  to  cover  the entire  agriculture  sector  from  pre  production  to  post  harvesting  and  marketing  in tandem with a view to enhance economics of production, marketing and improving the income of farmers.  The farmer's welfare/supporting programmes and schemes are linked at various stages.

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(c): The Government has been reorienting the agriculture sector by focusing additionally  on  an  income-centric  approach  which  focuses  apart  from  achieving  high productivity and production, reducing in cost of cultivation and remunerative price for the produce, with a view to facilitate higher profits from farming.

For this, Government has taken several initiatives which inter alia include:

(i) Implementation of flagship scheme of distribution of Soil Health Cards to farmers so that the use of fertilizers can be optimized. In the 1st cycle 1073.89 lakh Soil Health Cards were distributed & in the on-going 2nd cycle 673.96 lakh of Soil Health Cards have been distributed.

(ii) 'Per drop more  crop' initiative under which drip/sprinkler irrigation is being encouraged for optimal utilization of water. Further, the Government has created a Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF) with the objective to facilitate the States in mobilizing the resources for expanding coverage of  Micro  Irrigation  by  taking  up  special  and  innovative  projects  and also for incentivizing micro irrigation beyond the provisions available under PMKSY-PDMC to encourage farmers to install micro irrigation systems.

(iii) 'Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)' under which organic farming is being promoted.  North East is being developed as organic hub.

(iv) With  a  view  to  provide  better  insurance  coverage  to  crops  for  risk  mitigation, Government has launched a crop insurance scheme namely Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) from Kharif 2016 season. This scheme provides insurance cover for all stages of the crop cycle including post-harvest risks in specified instances.

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(v) Under 'Har Medh Par Ped', agro forestry is being promoted.  With the amendment of Indian Forest Act, 1947 Bamboo grown outside forest area has been removed from the definition of trees and a mission have been launched to promote bamboo plantation.

(vi) Giving a major boost to the pro-farmer initiatives of the Government and in keeping with its commitment and dedication for the Annadata, the Government has approved a new Umbrella Scheme Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan' (PM-AASHA).  The Scheme  is  aimed at  ensuring  remunerative  prices  to  the  farmers  for  their  produce  as announced in the Union Budget for 2018. This is an unprecedented step taken by Govt. of India to protect the farmers' income which is expected to go a long way towards the welfare of farmers.

(vii) In  order  to  provide  better  marketing  facilities  to  the  farmers,  the  Government  has released  a  new  model  'The  Agricultural  Produce  and  Livestock  Marketing  (Promotion  & Facilitation) Act, 2017' in April 2017 for its adoption by States/Union Territories (UTs). The provisions  therein  provides  for  alternative  marketing  channels  to  facilitate  farmers  in marketing their produce at competitive & remunerative prices.

(viii) In order to optimise the use of scarce resources and mitigate the uncertainty in price and marketing, the Government has formulated and released a progressive and facilitative Model  Act  'The  ----State/  UT  Agricultural  Produce  &  Livestock  Contract  Farming  and Services  (Promotion  &  Facilitation)  Act,  2018'  in  May,  2018  for  its  adoption  by  the states/Union Territories (UTs). The aforesaid Model Contract Farming Act covers the entire value  and  supply  chain  from  pre-production  to  post  harvest  marketing  including  services contract for the agricultural produce and livestock.

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(ix) As per Union Budget Announcement, 2018-19, Government has decided to develop and upgrade existing 22,000 rural haats into Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs) to work as  centers  of  aggregation  and  for  direct  purchase  of  agricultural  commodities  from  the farmers.

(x) The Government has implemented National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) scheme for transparent  price  discovery  for  remunerative  prices  for  the  farmers  for  their  produce through competitive online bidding system. So far, 585 wholesale regulated markets of 16 States and 02 UTs have been integrated with e-NAM platform.

(xi) Minimum  Support  Price  (MSP)  is  notified  by  the  Government  for  certain  crops. Giving a major boost for the farmers income, the Government has approved the increase in the MSPs for all Kharif & Rabi crops for 2018-19 season at a level of at least 150 percent of the cost of production.

(xii) During the period from 2014-15 to 2018-19, a quantity of 93.97 lakh MT of pulses and oilseeds valuing Rs. 44,142.50 crore were procured at MSP by various agencies of Government of India.

(xiii) Bee  keeping  has  been  promoted  under  Mission  for  Integrated  Development  of Horticulture (MIDH) to increase the productivity of crops through pollination and increase the honey production as an additional source of income of farmers.

(xiv) Rashtriya  Gokul  Mission  has  been  implemented  to  enhance  milk  production  and productivity of bovines and to make milk production more remunerative to the farmers.

(xv) National  Livestock  Mission  has  been  implemented  to  increase  productivity  and genetic improvement of livestock.

(xvi) Foreseeing high potential in fisheries sector, a Blue Revolution with multi dimensional  activities  mainly  focusing  on  fisheries  production,  both  inland  and  marine  is being implemented.

(xvii)    Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters)  aims  at  promoting  modern  infrastructure  with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet.

(xviii)    In order to overcome distress sale of his agri-produce, the Government is providing assistance  for  marketing  infrastructure    including  storage  and  cold  storage  infrastructure under various schemes such as Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana- Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR)  and  Agricultural  Marketing  Infrastructure (AMI)  sub scheme of Integrated Scheme for Agricultural Marketing (ISAM).

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