Lok Sabha Question No. 1391 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-09-20
Subject: Losses Suffered by Farmers due to Lockdown
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Malook Nagar

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

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1391

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 20 TH  SEPTEMBER, 2020

## LOSSES SUFFERED BY FARMERS DUE TO LOCKDOWN

1391.     SHRI MALOOK NAGAR:

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

- (a) whether the Government has any provision or is contemplating on forming one to compensate the losses borne by the farmers due to the Coronavirus Pandemic Lockdown as their produce have suffered severe losses;
- (b) if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

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

- (a) to (c): The Government proactively made the following interventions during Covid 19 Pandemic lockdown for the welfare of farmers across the country.
- (i) Allocating  Rs.20  lakh  crore  package  for  'Aatma  Nirbhar  Bharat'  which  also includes Creation of Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of Rs.1  lakh crore and Rs 500 crores for Bee-Keeping initiative
- (ii) Brought out two Ordinances namely The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce  (Promotion  and  Facilitation)  Ordinance  ,  2020  and  Empowerment and  Protection  of  farmers  for  Agreements  of  Price  Assurance  and  Farm Services Ordinance, 2020.
- (iii) Since 24th March, 2020 under PM Kisan Scheme, an amount of Rs.40000 crore has been deposited to the bank account of farmers.
- (iv) Government facilitated the farmer for timely harvest of the entire crop, resulting in record procurement of Rabi crop production.
- (v) As  per  4 th advanced  estimates  for  2019-20,  Rabi  crops  were  sown  in  646.74 lakh ha. and the harvesting was successfully completed mostly during pandemic lockdown  period  with  a  record  production  of  foodgrains  at  153.26  Million Tonnes.

- (vi) A  quantity  of  more  than  30.68  Lakh  MT  Pulses  and  Oilseeds  was  procured under  the  PSS  Scheme  during  the  period  valuing  about  Rs.  14,780  Crore  at about 3000 procurement centres from the farmers in the 11 States.
- (vii) Sowing area  coverage  for  summer  crops  enhanced  to  68.88  lakh  ha.  against 51.03 lakh ha. of last year.
- (viii) Sowing  Area  coverage  for  Kharif  crops  increased  by  5.71%  as  on  18.9.2020 compared to the corresponding period during the last year.
- (ix) Several  steps  were  taken  to  decongest  wholesale  market  and  to  boost  the supply  chain    like  integration  of  e-NAM  with  e-NWR,  insurance  of  passes/epasses to FPOs, launching of Uberisation  Module of logistics aggregators for making transport available to the farmers for faster movement of farm produce, creation  of  separate  cell  in  Department  for  monitoring  supply  and  prices  of essential goods and fruits and vegetables. Formulation and approval of Central Sector Scheme for promoting 1000 FPOs, launching of Kisan Rath Mobile App and  Farm Machinery Mobile App.

Starting of Kisan Rail to provide seamless connectivity among farmers, markets and consumers and help farmers send their perishable agro-products to inter-state markets in a time bound manner.

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