Lok Sabha Question No. 2066 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-03
Subject: Income Support to Farmers
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: H. Vasanthakumar

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

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2066

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE  3 RD  MARCH, 2020

## INCOME SUPPORT TO FARMERS

2066.  SHRI VASANTHAKUMAR H.:

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

- (a) whether the Ministry has introduced income support to farmers across the country, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether there is any proposal to impart training to the farmers, Organise exhibition on agricultural equipment and modernise agricultural system at village cum panchayat level to increase agricultural production and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  there  is  any  proposal  to  set  up  training  camp/loan  mela  for  farmers  at block/district level and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the details of godown facility near markets across the country; and
- (e) whether any request has been received for the same from the States/UTs including Tamil Nadu in this regard in the last three years till date?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी ( SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

- (a): Yes Sir. Government of lndia is implementing a Scheme namely the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) with a view to provide income support to all landholding farmers'  families  across  the  country,  to  enable  them  to  take  care  of  expenses  related  to agriculture  and  allied  activities  as  well  as  domestic  needs.  The  Scheme,  effective  from 01.12.2018, aims to provide a payment of Rs. 6000/-  per year for the farmers' families with cultivable  land  irrespective  size  of  their  land  holding,  subject  to  certain  exclusions.  The financial  benefit  of  Rs.  6000/-  is  released  by  the  Central  Government  in  three  4-monthly installments of Rs. 2000/- into the bank accounts of the eligible farmers under Direct Benefit Transfer mode.

The  cut-off  date  for  identification  of  beneficiaries  with  regard  to  their  eligibility  is 1.2.2019. 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 and their validation through Aadhar/PFMS.

(b): The  Farm  Machinery  Training  &  Testing  Institutes  (FMTTIs)  imparts  training  to different  categories  of  beneficiaries  like  farmers,  technicians,  under-graduate  engineers, entrepreneurs and the foreign  nationals  nominated under  international exchange  treaty  on selection,  operation,  maintenance,  energy  conservation  and  management  of  agricultural equipments. During the year 2018-19, total 9905 trainees were trained till 31 st March, 2019 against the annual target of 9000 in different courses of various FMTTIs.

Integrated  Pest  Management  (IPM)  approach  is  promoted  to  educate  the  farmers about  judicious  use  of  chemical  pesticides  and  recommend  use  as  per  the  directions prescribed  on  the  label  and  leaflet.  IPM  approach  promote  cultural,  mechanical,  biological method of pest control and recommends use of chemical pesticides as a measure of last resort.  During  the  last  5  years  (2014-15  to  2019-20),  4092  Farmer  Field  Schools  and 732 HRD  programmes  were  conducted  under  Integrated  Pest  Management  and  1,51,980 farmers, pesticides dealers and officials have been trained.

Under  Mission  for  Integrated  Development  of  Horticulture  (MIDH)  provision  for organizing  seminars, conferences,  workshops,  exhibitions,  kisan  melas, horticulture  shows etc.  exists  for  creating  awareness  among  farmers.  Assistance  is  provided  for  organizing events at international level @ 100% of the cost to the maximum of Rs. 7.50 lakh per event of 4 days. At national level, assistance is provided @ 100% of cost to the maximum of Rs. 5.00 lakh per event of 2 days, at State level, assistance is provided @ 100% of cost to the maximum of Rs. 3.00 lakh per event of 2 days and at district level, as assistance is provided @ 100% of cost to the maximum of Rs. 2.00 lakh per event of 2 days.

Under National Food Security Mission (NFSM) which is implemented in 28 States and 2  UTs  for  increasing  the  production  and  productivity  of  foodgrain  crops  through  area expansion  and  productivity  enhancement.  Under  the  programme,  cropping  system-based training  is  being  implemented  for  skill  development  to  educate  the  farmers  about  latest production technologies. Under the training program, a group of 30 farmers, four sessions of each training, one at beginning of kharif and rabi season and one each during kharif and rabi seasons are being implemented @ Rs. 14,000/- per training (Rs. 3500/- per session) through State Govt. Under the interventions of local initiative, States provide financial assistance to farmers for augmentation of water resources, development of godowns for safe storage of critical  inputs,  machineries  for  post-harvest  processing  like  graders,  de-husking  machines etc.

Seed  Village  Programme  is  implemented  to  upgrade  the  quality  of  farmers  saved seeds under Sub Mission on Seeds and Planting Material. Under this programme,  financial assistance for distribution of foundation/certified seeds at 50% cost of the seeds for cereal crops and 60% for pulses, oilseeds, fodder and green manure crops for production of quality seeds  is  available  for  one  acre  per  farmer.  To  train  the  farmers  on  seed  production  and technology  aspects  training  is  also  available/provided  to  the  farmers  for  the  seed  crops grown in the seed villages, financial assistance @ Rs. 15000 for a group of 50-150 farmers is provided  for  farmers  training  under  the  scheme.  The  scheme  is  demand  driven  and implemented  by  the  concerned  states/implementing  agencies  which  help  in  enhancing productivity  of  various  crops  and  also  improving  profitability  of  agriculture  sector  (farmers' income) in the country.

Under Soil Health Card Scheme, assistance are given to States for training of farmers as well as for organizing farmers mela.

The Scheme on 'Support to State Extension Programs for Extension Reforms' (ATMA) is under implementation since 2005. The scheme  is presently implemented in 691 districts of  28  States  &  5  UTs.  The  scheme  promotes  decentralized  farmer-driven  and  farmeraccountable  extension  system.  Under  the  scheme  Grants-in-Aid  is  released  to  the  State Governments  with  an  objective  to  support  State  Government's  efforts  to  revitalize  the extension  system  and  making  available  the  latest  modern  agricultural  technologies  and practices in different thematic areas of agriculture and allied sectors to increase agricultural production.  The  extension  activities  include  Farmers  Training , Demonstrations,  Exposure Visits, Kisan Mela, Mobilization of Farmers Groups and organizing Farm Schools etc.

(c): The  Krishi  Vikas  Kendras  (KVK)  under  ICAR  regularly  conduct    training/awareness camps for farmers at various levels. Similarly, banks conduct loan melas for the farmer at various intervals from time to time.

(d): In order to promote scientific storage capacity in rural areas,  DAC&FW  is implementing 'Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure' (AMI) sub-scheme of Integrated Scheme of Agricultural Marketing (ISAM) for creation of Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure including Storage infrastructure.  The  back  ended  capital  investment  subsidy  @  25% for plain  areas and 33.33% for NER, hilly area, Women/SC/ST promoters & FPOs etc is available.

Under the scheme, promoters are free to locate the marketing infrastructure projects including storage infrastructure projects at any place of their choice on the basis of economic viability and commercial considerations. However, storage infrastructure projects (godowns) should be outside the limits of Municipal Corporation areas except in cases where these are situated within Food Parks, Market Yards / APMCs, Industrial areas established or approved by State or Central agencies etc.

Under the scheme, a total of 39,244 storage infrastructure projects (Godowns), with storage capacity of 66.27 million MT have been assisted since inception  up to 31.12.2019. The State-wise progress is  at annexure-I.

(e): It  is  a  demand  driven  scheme and there is no provision for  state wise allocation  . During the last three year (2017-18 to 2019-20 till date), a total of 1212 storage infrastructure projects, with storage capacity of 1.46 million MT have been assisted in the country. In Tamil Nadu, during this period 22 storage infrastructure projects, with storage capacity of 75,058 MT have been assisted under the scheme.

## Annexure- I

## State-wise Progress of AMI (Storage Infrastructure) Since inception & up to 31.12.2019

| S. No.   | State             |   No. of projects |   Storage Capacity (in MT) |
|----------|-------------------|-------------------|----------------------------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh    |              1376 |                    5604889 |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh |                 1 |                        945 |
| 3        | Assam             |               325 |                     987169 |
| 4        | Bihar             |              1036 |                     587672 |
| 5        | Chhattisgarh      |               594 |                    1943545 |
| 6        | Goa               |                 1 |                        299 |
| 7        | Gujarat           |             11687 |                    4498329 |
| 8        | Haryana           |              2025 |                    6589727 |
| 9        | Himachal Pradesh  |                87 |                      27486 |
| 10       | Jammu & Kashmir   |                14 |                      83027 |
| 11       | Jharkhand         |                28 |                     167316 |
| 12       | Karnataka         |              4593 |                    3852482 |
| 13       | Kerala            |               206 |                      90511 |
| 14       | Madhya Pradesh    |              3870 |                   10792229 |
| 15       | Maharashtra       |              3603 |                    6741895 |
| 16       | Meghalaya         |                16 |                      21012 |
| 17       | Mizoram           |                 1 |                        302 |
| 18       | Nagaland          |                 1 |                        814 |
| 19       | Odisha            |               691 |                    1009180 |
| 20       | Punjab            |              1745 |                    6741842 |
| 21       | Rajasthan         |              1483 |                    2764745 |
| 22       | Tamilnadu         |              1127 |                    1407402 |
| 23       | Telangana         |               768 |                    4647395 |
| 24       | Tripura           |                 5 |                      28764 |
| 25       | Uttar Pradesh     |              1119 |                    5322569 |
| 26       | Uttarakhand       |               287 |                     772269 |
| 27       | West Bengal       |              2555 |                    1586176 |
| Total    | Total             |             39244 |                   66269990 |

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