Lok Sabha Question No. 322 (STARRED), answered on 2021-12-21
Subject: Protection of Farmers’ Interests
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Vivek Narayan Shejwalkar

## GOVERNMENT OF IDNIA MINISTRY O1F AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. 322

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 21 st  DECEMBER, 2021

## PROTECTION OF FARMERS' INTERESTS

†*322. SHRI VIVEK NARAYAN SHEJWALKAR:

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

- (a) whether the Government is aware that farmers are being exploited by middlemen;
- (b) if so, the steps being taken by the Government for the protection of the interests of farmers and to save them from the clutches of middlemen; and
- (c) the steps being taken in the direction of agricultural reforms?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

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

- (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.  322  FOR  ANSWER  ON  21.12.2021  BY  SHRI  VIVEK NARAYAN SHEJWALKAR REGARDING 'Protection of Farmers' Interests'.

(a) to (c):       Most of the State Governments and Union Territories have enacted their own  legislations  through  State  Agriculture  Produce  Market  Committee  (APMC)  Acts  to provide  for  regulation  of  Agricultural  Produce  Market  Committees  (APMCs)  which  also includes the role of commission agents. The Government of India had circulated a model 'The Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2017' on  24th  April,  2017  for  its  adoption  by  States/UTs,  which  provides  for  alternative marketing  channels,  direct  marketing,  setting  up  of  private  markets,  farmer-consumer markets,  special  commodity  markets,  declaring  warehouses  /silos/  cold  storages  as market  sub  yards  to  promote  agriculture  marketing  including  to  reduce  the  number  of intermediaries between producer and buyer for facilitating better remunerative prices for farmers' produce.

Further, to protect the farmers from exploitation by the middlemen, the Government has taken various steps/ initiatives / done agricultural reforms, which are as follows:-

- (i)  Government  is  implementing  a  reform  linked  scheme  called  National  Agriculture Market (e-NAM) for transparent price discovery with competitive and remunerative prices for the farmers' produce through online bidding system, which will help protect the farmers from exploitation by the middlemen.  So far, 1000 mandis of 18 States and  3  UTs  have  been  integrated  with  e-NAM  platform.  The  agricultural  produce trade  with  a  value  of  Rs.1.62  lakh  crore  have  been  recorded  on  e-NAM  platform. NAM permits farmers' to sell their  produce  through competitive  online  transparent bidding system without going through the commission agents.
- (ii)  Government of  India has launched the Central Sector Scheme for 'Formation and Promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs)' in the year 2020 with the main focus on increasing the bargaining capacity of the farmers, thus helping in increase  of  farmers'  income.  FPO  trading  module  has  been  launched  in  National Agriculture  Market  (e-NAM)  platform  to  facilitate  FPOs  to  trade  their  agricultural produce  from  their  collection  centres  without  bringing  the  produce  to  Agricultural Produce  Market  Committee  markets.  Warehouse  based  trading  module  was  also launched  in  e-NAM  platform  to  enable  farmers  to  sell  their  produce  from  WDRA registered warehouses notified as deemed market.
- (iii)  The Government of India had launched the Kisan Rath Mobile App on 17.04.2020 to address the issue of transportation of agricultural produce of farmers and other stakeholders.
- (iv)  Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN): With a view to provide income support to all farmers' families across the country and 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.
- (v) 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.

- (vi)  '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.
- (vii)  In  order to  provide  remunerative price to the  farmers, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW), implements 'Pradhan Mantri Annadata  Aay  SanraksHan  Abhiyan'  (PM-AASHA),  comprising  Price  Support Scheme  (PSS),  Price  Deficiency  Payment  Scheme  (PDPS)  and  pilot  of  Private Procurement and Stockist Scheme(PPSS). The procurement of Pulses, oilseeds and copra  at  Minimum  Support  Price  (MSP)  under  Price  Support  Scheme  (PSS)  has increased upto to 167.05 Lakh MT during 2014- 15 to 2021-22( upto 22.07.2021). Moreover,  16.83  Lakh  MT  of  oilseeds  had  also  been  procured  under  Price Deficiency  payment  Scheme  (PDPS)  in  2018-19.  In  addition  to  this  around  15.53 Lakh MT of Pulses has also been procured at MSP under Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) under administrative control of Department of Consumer Affair.
- (viii)  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.
- (ix)  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. 202021and Rs. 16.50 lakh crore for FY 2021-22.
- (x) 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.
- (xi)  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.
- (xii)  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 agri-credit 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.

(xiii)  Government had approved a new  central sector scheme  viz., Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) of Rs. 1,00,000 Crore to provide a medium-long term loan facility  for  post-harvest  market  infrastructure  including  warehousing  facility  and community farming assets through interest subvention and financial support. In order to strengthen the infrastructure in the mandis, Agricultural Produce Market Committees  (APMCs)  have  been  recognized  as  one  of  the  eligible  entities  under AIF.

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