Lok Sabha Question No. 1557 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-07
Subject: Alternatives to Increase Farmers Income
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Rakesh Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  1557 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 7 TH  DECEMBER, 2021 ALTERNATIVES TO INCREASE FARMERS INCOME

1557.  SHRI RAKESH SINGH: Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has sought alternatives to increase the income of small-medium farmers of the country, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government proposes to take measures to make marketing facilities available to such farmers in this regard; and
- (c) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

(a) There are many schemes run by the Government for the welfare of farmers to provide alternatives to increase the income of   farmers of the country.  The details of such schemes are at Annexure .

(b) &  (c)  Government  of  India  has  already  undertaken  measures  to  make  marketing facilities available to farmers such as

- i. Launching of a Central Sector Scheme for 'Formation and Promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs)' to form and promote 10,000 new FPOs.
- ii. National Agriculture Market (e-NAM), a virtual platform integrating physical wholesale mandis/ markets of different States/ Union Territories (UTs) to facilitate online trading of agriculture and  horticulture  commodities  to  enable  farmers  to  realize better remunerative prices for their produce.
- iii. Famers can avail benefit under the various government schemes such as Agriculture Marketing Infrastructure (AMI) & Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) for establishing value  addition  and  marketing  facility  near  to  farm  gate  for  themselves  and  other farmers.

## List of various interventions and schemes launched for the benefit of farmers

- (i) Pradhan  Mantri  Kisan  Samman  Nidhi  (PM-KISAN): With  a  view  to  provide  income support  to  all  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 Central Government started a new Central Sector Scheme, namely, the Pradhan Mantri Kisan  Samman  Nidhi  (PM-KISAN).    The  scheme  aims  to  provide  a  payment  of  Rs. 6000/-  per  year,  in  three  4-monthly  instalments  of  Rs.  2000/-  to  the  farmers  families, subject  to  certain  exclusions  relating  to  higher  income  groups.  A  total  of Rs.  1.6  lakh crore have been released so far to more than 11.5 crore farmer families .
- (ii) Small and Marginal Farmers (SMF): Further with a view to provide social security net for Small and Marginal Farmers (SMF) as they have minimal or no savings to provide for old  age  and  to  support  them  in  the  event  of  consequent  loss  of  livelihood  the Government has decided to implement another new Central Sector Scheme i.e. Pradhan Mantri  Kisan  Maan  Dhan  Yojana  (PM-KMY)  for  providing  old  age  pension  to  these farmers. Under this Scheme, a minimum fixed pension of Rs. 3000/- will be provided to the eligible small and marginal farmers, subject to certain exclusion clauses, on attaining the age of 60 years.
- (iii) Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY): With a view to provide better insurance coverage to crops for risk mitigation, a crop insurance scheme namely Pradhan Mantri Fasal  Bima  Yojana  (PMFBY)  was  launched  from  Kharif  2016  season.    This  scheme provides insurance cover for all stages of the crop cycle including post-harvest risks in specified instances, with low premium contribution by farmers. During this period nearly Rs. 21450 crore were paid by farmers as their share of premium against which claims of over  Rs.101875  crore  (Provisional)  have  paid  to  them.  Thus  for  every  100  rupees  of premium paid by farmers, they have received Rs. 475 as claims.
- (iv) Minimum Support  Price  (MSPs): Giving  a  major  boost  for  the  farmers'  income,  the Government has  approved  the  increase  in  the  Minimum  Support  Price  (MSPs)  for  all Kharif & Rabi crops.
-  Government has increased the MSP for all mandated Kharif, Rabi and other commercial crops with a return of at least 50 per cent over all India weighted average cost of production from 2018-19.
-  MSP for Paddy has increased to Rs. 1868 per quintal in 2020-21 from Rs. 1310 per quintal in 2013-14 marking an increase of 43%.
-  MSP for Wheat increased from Rs. 1400 per quintal in 2013-14 to Rs. 1975 per quintal in 2020-21.
- (v) Soil  Health  Cards: Implementation  of  flagship  scheme  of  distribution  of  Soil  Health Cards to farmers so that the use of fertilizers can be rationalized. Soil health cards have been issued free of cost to nearly 11 crore farmers under a nationwide program.
- (vi) 'Per drop more crop ' initiative under which drip/sprinkler irrigation is being encouraged for  optimal  utilization  of  water,  reducing  cost  of  inputs  and  increasing  productivity. Per Drop More Crop component of Pradhanmantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY\_PDMC) aims  to  increase  water  use  efficiency  at  the  farm  level through  Micro  Irrigation technologies,  i.e., drip  and  sprinkler  irrigation  systems.   Under  the  scheme  an area  of 20.39 lakh hectare has been covered and about 16 lakh farmers were benefited under micro-irrigation during 2019-20 & 2020 - 21. An amount of Rs. 5262.20 crore has been provided to states as central assistance under PMKSY-PDMC during 2019-20 and 202021.  For the year 2021-22, an amount of Rs. 4000.00 crore (B.E.) has been allocated for implementation of the scheme and an amount of Rs. 351.50 crore released to States so far.
- (vii) 'Paramparagat  Krishi  Vikas  Yojana  (PKVY)' for  promoting  organic  farming.  From 2018-19  to  2020-21,  achievement  under  PKVY  scheme-19043  clusters  have  been formed and an area of 3.81 lakh ha has been covered benefitting 9.52 lakh farmers. In addition, under Namami Gange Programme 123620 ha area covered and under natural farming 4.09 lakh ha area covered.
- (viii) National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) scheme: Launch of e-NAM initiative to provide farmers with transparent and competitive online trading platform.
-  In 18 states and 03 UTs, 1000 markets have already been integrated with the ENAM Platform.
-  As of 24.11.2021, total volume of 4.99 crore MT & 10.57 crore numbers (Bamboo, Betel Leaves, Coconut, Lemon & Sweet corn) with collective worth of approximately Rs. 1.57 lakh crore of trade has been recorded on e-NAM platform. So far, more than 1.72 crore farmers and 2.04 lakh traders have been registered with e-NAM platform
- (ix) Har Med Pard Ped :  Under the scheme, agro forestry is being promoted for additional income. With the amendment of Indian Forest  Act,  1927, Bamboo has been removed from the definition of trees. A restructured National Bamboo Mission has been launched in  the  year  2018   to  promote  bamboo  plantation  on non forest  government  as  well as private land and emphasis on value addition, product development and markets.
- (x) Pradhan  Mantri  Annadata  Aay  Sanrakshan  Abhiyan  (PMAASHA) :  Giving  a  major boost  to  the  pro-farmer  initiatives,  the  Government  has  approved  a  new  Umbrella Scheme 'Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PMAASHA)'. The Scheme is aimed at ensuring remunerative prices to the farmers for the 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.

- (xi) Price Support Scheme (PSS): Increase in procurement under PSS:- The procurement of Pulses, oilseeds and copra at MSP under Price Support Scheme (PSS) has increased upto to 167.05 LMT during 2014- 15 to 2021-22( upto 22.07.2021). Moreover, 16.83 LMT of oilseeds had also been procured under Price Deficiency payment Scheme (PDPS) in 2018-19. In addition to this around 15.53 LMT of Pulses has also been procured at MSP under  Price  Stabilization  Fund  (PSF)  under  administrative  control  of  Department  of Consumer Affair.
- (xii) Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH): 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.
- (xiii) Institutional  Credit  for  Agriculture :  To  ensure  flow  of  adequate  credit,  Government sets  annual  target  for  the  flow  of  credit  to  the  agriculture  sector,  Banks  have  been consistently surpassing the annual target. The agriculture credit flow target has been set at Rs. 13.50 lakh crore for the F.Y. 2019-20, Rs. 15.00 lakh crore for F.Y. 2020-21and Rs. 16.50 lakh crore for FY 2021-22.
- (xiv) Interest  Subvention  Scheme: Extending  the  reach  of  institutional  credit  to  more  and more  farmers  is  priority  area  of  the  Government  and  to  achieve  this  goal,  the Government provides interest subvention of 2% on short-term crop loans up to Rs. 3.00 lakh.  Presently,  loan  is  available  to  farmers  at  an  interest  rate  of  4%  per  annum  on prompt repayment.
- (xv) Further,  under  Interest  Subvention  Scheme  2018-19,  in  order  to  provide  relief  to  the farmers on occurrence of natural calamities, the interest subvention of 2% shall continue to  be  available  to  banks  for  the  first  year  on  the  restructured  amount.  In  order  to discourage  distress  sale  by  farmers  and  to  encourage  them  to  store  their  produce  in warehouses  against  negotiable  receipts,  the  benefit  of  interest  subvention  will  be available to small and marginal farmers having Kisan Credit Card for a further period of upto six months post harvest on the same rate as available to crop loan.
- (xvi) Kisan Credit Card (KCC): The  Government  has  extended the  facility  of  Kisan  Credit Card (KCC) to the farmers practicing animal husbandry and fisheries related activities. All  processing fee,  inspection,  leger  folio  charges  and  all  other  services  charges  have been waived off for fresh renewal of KCC. Collateral fee loan limit for short term agricredit has been raised from Rs. 1.00 lakh to Rs. 1.60 lakh. KCC will be issued within 14 days from the receipt of completed application.
- (xvii) Several  market  reforms  related  programmes  and  policies  have  been  rolled  out  to facilitate farmers and producers with remunerative price for their produce.

## (xviii) Creating of Corpus Fund

- a.  Micro Irrigation Fund - Rs. 10,000 crore
- b.  Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of Rs. One Lakh Crore -

(xix) Farmers'  Producer  Companies  (FPOs): Formation and Promotion of Farmers' Producer Companies (FPOs) to form and promote 10,000 FPOs.

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