Lok Sabha Question No. 2184 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-15
Subject: Incentives to Farmers
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Shardaben Anilbhai Patel, Mitesh Rameshbhai (Bakabhai) Patel

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2184

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 15 TH  MARCH, 2022

## INCENTIVES TO FARMERS

2184.  SHRIMATI SHARDABEN ANILBHAI PATEL: SHRI MITESH RAMESHBHAI PATEL (BAKABHAI):

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

- (a)  the  details  of  various  concessions/incentives  being  provided  to  farmers  for  the development of agriculture sector, if so, the details thereof;

(b)  whether  some  suggestions  have  been  received  from  various  sectors  for  giving industrial status to agriculture sector, if so, the details thereof;

(c) the details of benefits which the farmers are likely to get from such initiatives; and

- (d) the details of measures initiated by the Government for the sustainable development of the agriculture sector and the farmer along with the details of the outcome thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

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

- (a): Agriculture being a State Subject, the State  Governments  take  appropriate measures  for  development  of  agriculture  in  the  State.  However,  Government  of  India supplements  the  efforts  of  States  through  appropriate  policy  measures  and  budgetary support  and  various  schemes/  programmes.  The  various  schemes/  programmes  of  the Government  of  India  are  meant  for  the  welfare  of  farmers  by  increasing  production, remunerative  returns  and  income  support  to  farmers.  Various  concessions/  incentives being provided to the farmers under various schemes are as under:

Pradhan  Mantri  Kisan  Samman  NIdhi  (PM-KISAN): The  project  aims  at  providing income  support  to  all  farmers'  families  across  the  country.  The  scheme  provides  a payment of Rs.6000/- per year to farmer's families, in three, 4- monthly equal installments of Rs.2000/- subject to certain exclusion criteria.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana (PM-KMY): Under this Scheme, a minimum fixed pension of Rs. 3000/- is  provided to the eligible small and marginal farmers, subject to certain exclusion clauses, on attaining the age of 60 years.

Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) : Under MIDH Guidelines, in a component namely Integrated Post Harvest Management (PHM), assistance is provided for  value  addition  through  setting  up  of  infrastructure  and  logistic  support  like  primary processing unit,  integrated  pack  house,  pre-cooling  units,  on  farm  pack  houses,  mobile pre-cooling units, staging cold rooms, refrigerated vans etc.

Entrepreneurs, private companies, cooperatives, farmers groups etc, can avail assistance for  individual  component  or  combination  of  different  components,  through  commercial ventures, for which assistance @ 35% of admissible project cost in general areas and @ 50% of admissible project cost in hilly  and scheduled area, as credit linked back ended subsidy through respective State Horticulture Missions. In case of Food Processing units in North Eastern and Himalayan States, assistance is provided @ 50% of the admissible project cost. Under the Scheme assistance is also provided for Primary/ Mobile/ Minimal Processing Units @ 40% of the capital cost of Rs. 25.00 lakh/project in general areas and @55% in case of hilly and scheduled areas.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY): MoFPI provides financial assistance in  the  form  of  grant-in-aid  at  the  rate  of  35%  for  general  areas  and  50%  for  North  East States,  Himalayan  States,  Integrated  Tribal  Development  Project  areas  and  Islands  for storage and transport infrastructure and at the rate of 50% and 75% respectively for value addition and processing infrastructure subject to a maximum grant-in-aid of Rs. 10 crore per  project  for  setting  up  integrated  cold  chain  projects.  In  addition  to  Integrated  Cold Chain and Value Addition Projects, Projects of Agro Processing Cluster, Mega food Park etc. are also supported under PMKSY.

Minimum Support Price (MSP): 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.

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 besides short-term crop loans up to Rs 3 Lakhs. All processing fee, inspection, leger folio charges and all other services charges have been waived off for fresh renewal of KCC.

Benefit of concessional institutional credit through KCC at 4% interest per annum on prompt repayment, has also now been extended to Animal Husbandry and Fisheries farmers for meeting their short-term working capital needs.

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY)-Per Drop More Crop: Under  the per  drop  more  crop  component  of  PMKSY  financial  assistance  is  available  @  55%  for small  and  marginal  farmers  and  @  45%  for  other  farmers  for  installation  of  Drip  and Sprinkler Irrigation systems. Further, 25% higher unit cost have been taken into calculation of subsidy for the North Eastern and Himalayan states and 15% higher for States with low penetration  of  Micro  Irrigation  for  larger  adoption  of  systems  by  the  farmers  under  the scheme.

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY): PMFBY was launched from Kharif 2016 season to provide better insurance coverage to crops for risk mitigation with a view to low premium contribution by farmers.

'Paramparagat Krishi  Vikas Yojana (PKVY)' -  To  promote  organic  farming  in  cluster mode, farmers are provided financial assistance of Rs.50,000/- per hectare for three years in  which,  Rs.31000/-  per  hectare  for  three  years  is  provided  directly  to  farmers  through DBT  for  organic  inputs  such  as  seeds,  bio-fertilizers,  bio-pesticides,  organic  manure, compost/ vermi-compost, botanical extracts etc.

Bhartiya  Prakritik  Krishi  Padhati  (BPKP): Government  Promotes  natural  farming through BPKP, a sub-scheme of PKVY, to support traditional indigenous practices. Under the  scheme,  financial  assistance  of  Rs.12,200/-  per  hac  for  three  years  is  provided  for cluster  formation,  capacity  building  and  continuous  hand  holding  by  trained  personnel, certification and residue analysis.

Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER):

It Is implemented in all North-Eastern States. Under the scheme, a sum of Rs.46,575/- per hac  for  three  years  is  provided  for  creation  of  Farmers  Producer  Organization  (FPO), support  to farmers  for organic  inputs, quality  seeds/planting  material  and  training, handholding and certification. Besides financial assistance is also provided as subsidy to FPOs and Private Entrepreneurs.

Sub-Mission  on  Agricultural  Mechanization(SMAM): The  scheme  promotes  Custom Hiring Centers (CHC) to offset the adverse economies of scale arising due to small land holdings and high cost of individual ownership.

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY): The funds under the scheme are released to the State  Governments  as  Grants-in-aid  on  the  basis  of  projects  in  agriculture  and  allied sectors approved by the State Level Sanctioning Committee Meeting (SLSC) headed by the  Chief  Secretary  of  the  concerned  States.  States  have  been  provided  flexibility  and autonomy for selection, planning approval and execution of projects/ programmes under the scheme in the State as per its requirement in areas which requires focused attention for  increasing  production  and  productivity  in  the  State.  The  funding  pattern  of  RKVY  is 60:40 between Centre and States and 90:10 for North Eastern and Himalayan States. For UTs, it is 100% central share.

Rashtriya  Krishi  Vikas  Yojana  (RKVY)  -  RAFTAAR  (RemunerativeApproaches  for Agricultural and Allied Sector Rejuvenation): The scheme aims to promote innovation and  agripreneurship  by  providing  financial  support  and  nurturing  the  incubation  eco system.  The three  components  under RKVY-RAFTAAR with financial assistance are  as under:

- a)  Agripreneurship Orientation - 2 months duration with a stipend of Rs.10,000/- per month. Mentorship is provided on financial, technical, IP issues etc.
- b)  Seed  Stage  Funding  of  R-ABI(RAFTAAR  Agribusiness  incubators)  IncubateesFunding upto Rs. 25 lakhs (85% grant & 15% contribution from the incubate).
- c)  Idea/Pre-Seed Stage Funding of Agripreneurship- Funding up to Rs. 5 lakh (90% grant and 10% contribution from the incubate).

Animal  Husbandry  Infrastructure  Development  Fund: it  incentivizes  investments  by individual  entrepreneurs,  private  companies,  MSME,  Farmers  Producers  Organizations (FPOs) and Section 8 companies to establish (i) the dairy processing and value addition infrastructure, (ii) meat processing and value addition infrastructure and (iii) Animal Feed Plant.

National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP) for control of Foot & Mouth Disease and Brucellosis: The programme is meant for control of Foot & Mouth Disease and Brucellosis' by vaccinating  100% cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat  and pig population for FMD and 100% bovine female calves of 4-8 months of age for brucellosis. This scheme provides 100% financial assistance.

Rashtriya Gokul Mission: Under this scheme, breed improvement activity is supported through  support  to  semen  production  facilities,  bull  production  programme  and  breed multiplication farms.  50% capital subsidy is made available to entrepreneurs directly for breed  multiplication  farms  for  production  and  supply  of  high  genetic  merit  heifers  to farmers.

Supporting  Dairy  Cooperatives  and  Farmer  Producer  Organizations  engaged  in dairy  activities  (SDCFPO): The  scheme  is  being  implemented  by  National  Dairy Development  Board  for  providing  soft  loans  for  working  capital  to  enable  Cooperative Societies and farmer producer organizations engaged in dairy activities to provide a stable market access to farmers.

Livestock Health and Disease Control: The scheme  is being implemented to supplement  the  efforts  of  the  State/UT  Governments  towards  prevention,  control  and containment of animal diseases of economic and zoonotic importance, by vaccination.

The  funding  pattern  is  100%  central  assistance  for  the  CADCP  and  the  nonrecurring  components  of  ESVHD,  and  60:40  between  Central  and  State  for  the  other components as well as for ASCAD, with 90:10 for hilly and NE States and 100% for UTs.

(b) to (d): Government has been receiving suggestions from various sectors for giving industrial  status  to  agriculture  sector.  However,  Government  seeks  to  bestow  on  the agriculture sector as many benefits as available to those in the manufacturing sector, such as,  easy  availability  of  credit  and  other  inputs  and  creation  of  infrastructure  facilities  for development of agriculture sector, including marketing and post-harvest management.

The details of achievements in the Agriculture sector is at Annexure.

## Achievements:

- (i) Unprecedented enhancement in budget allocation

In the year 2013-14, the Budget allocation for Department of Agriculture was only Rs.  21933.50  crore.  This  has  been  increased  by  more  than  5.5  times  to  Rs. 1,23017.57 crore in 2021-22.

- (ii)
- Record food grains and horticulture production

Food  grain  production  has  increased  from  265.05  million  tonnes  in  2013-14  to record  305.43  million  tonnes  in  2020-21  (Third  advance  estimate)  which  is  the highest  ever  food  grain  production.  Horticulture  production  has  increased  from 280.99 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 320.48 million tonnes in 2020-21 (2nd advance Estimate) which is the highest ever for Indian horticulture.

- (iii) Fixing of MSP at one-and-a half times the cost of production -
- 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. 1940 per quintal in 2021-22 from Rs. 1310 per quintal in 2013-14 marking an increase of 48%.
- MSP for Wheat increased from Rs. 1400 per quintal in 2013-14 to Rs. 2015 per quintal in 2021-22.
- (iv) Income support to farmers through PM KISAN : Launch of PM-KISAN in 2019 an income support scheme providing Rs. 6000 per year in 3 equal instalments. A total of Rs. 1.8 lakh crores have been released so far to more than 11.7 crore farmer families.
- (v) Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) : PMFBY was launched in 2016 addressing problems of high premium rates for farmers and reduction in sum insured due to capping. In past 5 Years of implementation - 29.29 crore farmer applicants enrolled and over 8.99 crore (Provisional) farmer applicants have received claims of over Rs. 103903 crore. During this period nearly Rs. 21448 crore were paid by farmers as their share of premium against which claims of over Rs.103903 crore (Provisional) have paid to them. Thus for every 100 rupees of premium paid by farmers, they have received Rs. 484 as claims.
- (vi) Institutional credit for agriculture sector
-  Increased from Rs.7.3 lakh crore in 2013-14 with a target to reach Rs. 16.5 lakh crore in 2021-22.
-  Benefit  of  concessional institutional  credit through KCC at 4% interest per annum has  also  now  been  extended  to  Animal  Husbandry  and  Fisheries  farmers  for meeting their short-term working capital needs.
-  A special drive has been undertaken since February 2020 to provide concessional institutional credit with focus on covering all PM-KISAN beneficiaries through Kisan Credit  Cards  (KCC).  Till  date,  270.29  lakh  new  KCC  have  been  issued  with sanctioned amount of Rs.2,88,832 crore.'
- (vii) Providing Soil Health Cards to farmers : Soil Health Card Scheme was introduced in the year 2014-15 to optimize usage of nutrients. Soil health cards have been issued free of cost to nearly 11 crore farmers under a nationwide program.

## (viii) Promotion of organic farming in the country

- Paramparagat  Krishi  VikasYojana  (PKVY)  was  initiated  in  2015-16  to  promote organic farming in the country. Two-year 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.
- Mission  Organic Value Chain Development in North East Region (MOVCDNER) has been launched. 170 Farmer  Producer  Companies  have  been  formed comprising of 1.55 lakh farmers and covering 1,55,495 ha area.

In  addition,  to  facilitate  organic  certification  at  affordable  cost  and  easy  to  adopt approaches, a New Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) certification was launched during 2015. This PGS system is unique in the world and is the largest participatory organic  certification  programme  in  the  world.  Around  11  lakh  small  and  marginal farmers are certified under PGS certification. A Jaivik kheti portal has been initiated to assist  the  small  and  marginal  famers  in  selling  their  organic  products  directly  to consumers.  As  of  now,  around  5.56  lakh  farmers  are  registered  on  the  portal.  In addition, quick certification of default organic areas such as islands, remote, hilly areas have  been  initiated  under  the  Large  Area  Certification  programme.  This  will  enable small farmers to market certified products immediately without waiting for the normal certification  period  of  3  years.  Around  14445  ha  in  Car  Nicobar  Islands  of  the Andamans is now certified under the programme helping marginal farmers in the area for  marketing  certified  products.  Proposal  of  5000  ha  area  has  been  received  from Ladakh under LAC and fund Rs 11.475 lakh has been released. The entire cultivable land of 2700 ha area of Lakshadweep have been certified organic under Large area certification. Support for individual farmers for certification has also been introduced to encourage farmers to take up organic farming.

- (ix) Neem Coating of Urea :  Neem Coated Urea has been introduced since 2015-16 to ensure long availability of nutrients in the soil by slow release of nitrogen. It has also helped in curtailing diversion of urea for non- agricultural activities.
- (x) Agri Infrastructure Fund (AIF) : Within a year of the launch of AIF, the scheme mobilized  Rs.7700  Crore  worth agriculture  infrastructure  in  the  country  for  more than 7300  projects. With  the  support of the scheme,  various  agriculture infrastructure  was created  and  some of  the  infrastructure is  at  the  final  stage  of completion. This infrastructure includes 3898 warehouses, 155 assaying units, 136 primary  processing  units,  135  sorting  &  grading  units,  20  smart  &  precision agriculture  projects  and  around  3000  other  kind  of  post-harvest  management projects and community farming assets.

## (xi) Promotion of FPOs

-  Scheme  for  Formation  and  Promotion  of  10,000  FPOs  launched  with  a  total budgetary provision of Rs. 6865 Crore in February 2020.
-  So far, more than 4965 FPO produce clusters have been allocated to respective Implementing Agencies (IAs).
-  Cluster Based Business Organizations (CBBOs) have been empanelled by different IAs and already allocated blocks to them.
-  At national level, a National Project Management Agency (NPMA) is engaged for providing  overall  project  guidance,  data  maintenance  through  integrated  portal and information management and monitoring.
- (xii) A National Bee and Honey Mission (NBHM) has been launched in 2020 as part of the AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. Rs.500 crore for the period 2020-2021 to 20222023 has been allocated for the sector.
- (xiii) Per  Drop  More  Crop  component  of  Pradhan  Mantri  Krishi  Sinchai  Yojana (PMKSY-PDMC)  : 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  2020-21.    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.  779.18  crore  released  to States so far.
- (xiv) Micro Irrigation Fund : A Micro Irrigation Fund of Rs 5000 crore has been placed with NABARD.  In the Budget for 2021-22 the corpus of the fund has been increased to Rs.1000 crores. Projects worth Rs 3970.17 crore covering 12.83 lakh hectares have been approved.
- (xv) Agricultural Mechanization: Agricultural mechanization is extremely vital to modernize  agriculture  and  reduce  drudgery  of  farming  operations.  During  the period from 2014-15 to 2021-22 (as on 31.12.2021) an amount of Rs. 5130.61 crore have been allocated for agricultural mechanization. 13,78,755 numbers of machines  and  equipments  have  been  provided  to  farmers  on  subsidy.   16,007 custom hiring centers, 378 high-tech hubs and 16,064 farm machinery banks have been established.

During the period from 2018-19 to 2021-22 (as on 31.12.2021), an amount of Rs.  2440.07  crore  have  been  released  to  the  States  of  Punjab,  Haryana,  Uttar Pradesh,  NCT  of  Delhi  and  ICAR  for  crop  residue  management.  39,398  Custom Hiring Centers (CHCs)  of crop residue management  machines  have  been established in these States and a total of more than 2.00 lakh machines have been supplied to these established CHCs and individual farmers of these four States.

## (xvi) National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) scheme

-  In  18 states  and 03 UTs,  1000 markets  have  already  been  integrated  with  the  eNAM Platform.
-  As on 05.01.2022, total volume of 5.27 crore MT & 11.68 crore numbers (Bamboo, Betel Leaves, Coconut, Lemon & Sweet corn) with collective worth of approximately Rs. 1.68 lakh crore of trade has been recorded on e-NAM platform. Till date, more than 1.72 crore farmers have been registered on e-NAM platform
- (xvii) Promotion of Agri Start up: 799 start-ups in the agriculture and allied sectors have been selected for funding of a sum of Rs. 86.64 crore in instalments and Rs. 37.90 crore have been released to respective KPs and RABIs for funding these  start-ups.  These  start-ups  were  trained  for  two  months  at  various agribusiness  incubation  centres  i.e.  Knowledge  Partners  (KPs)  &  RKVYRAFTAAR Agribusiness Incubators (RABIs).

## (xviii) Promoting Use of Drones in Agriculture

-  The adoption of Drone technologies in agriculture have a potential to revolutionize the Indian agriculture and ensure country's food security. Accordingly, looking into the  unique  advantages  of  Drone  technologies  in  agriculture,  the  Department  of Agriculture  &  Farmers  Welfare  has  released  the  Standard  Operating  Procedures (SOPs)  for  use  of  drones  in  pesticide  and  nutrient  application  in  public  domain 21.12.2021, which provide concise instructions for effective and safe operations of drones.
-  In order to make this technology affordable to the farmers and other stakeholders of this sector, financial assistance @ 100 % cost of drone together with the contingent expenditure  is  extended  to  ICAR/SAU/  State  governments/  State  government Institutions under  Sub-Mission  on  Agricultural Mechanization  (SMAM)  for  its demonstration  on  the  farmer's  fields.  In  order  to  provide  agricultural  services through drone application, financial assistance @ 40% of the basic cost of drone and  its  attachments  or  Rs.4  lakhs,  whichever  less  is  also  provided  for  drone purchase by existing and new Custom Hiring Centers (CHCs) under Cooperative Society  of  Farmers,  FPOs and  Rural  entrepreneurs.  The  agriculture  graduates establishing CHCs are eligible to receive financial assistance @ 50% or up to Rs.5 lakhs.

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