Lok Sabha Question No. 885 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-01
Subject: New Agricultural Policy
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: GANESH SINGH

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

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.885

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE  1 ST  MARCH, 2016

## NEW AGRICULTURAL POLICY

885.   SHRI GANESH SINGH:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE ‡ãðŠãäÓã एवं किसान िल्याण ½ãâ¨ããè be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is contemplating to form a new agricultural policy comprising the matters of loan to farmers and all other issues related to farming; and
- (b) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF  STATE IN THE  MINISTRY OF  AGRICULTURE AND  FARMERS  WELFARE

‡ãðŠãäÓã एवं किसान िल्याण ½ãâ¨ããÊã¾ã ½ãñâ Àã·¾ã ½ãâ¨ããè ( SHRI MOHANBHAI KUNDARIYA )

- (a) & (b): Presently  Government  is  guided  by  National  Policy  on  Farmers  (NPF), 2007.  Various schemes of the Government including credit, other inputs are based on NPF recommendations.    The  Government  is  proposing  to  set  up  Review  Committee which will make a comprehensive review of NPF and make appropriate recommendations.    The  strategy  is  to  focus  on  farmers'  welfare  by  making  farming viable.  Farm viability is possible, when cost of cultivation is reduced, yields per unit of farm  are  increased  and  farmers  get  remunerative  prices  on  their  produce.    The Department has been implementing various schemes to meet this objective.
1. Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme by which the farmers can know the major and minor  nutrients  available  in  their  soils  which  will  ensure  judicious  use  of  fertiliser application  and  thus  save  money  of  farmers.  The  balanced  use  of  fertiliser  will  also enhance productivity and ensure higher returns to the farmers.
2. Neem  Coated  Urea  is  being  promoted  to  regulate  urea  use,  enhance  its availability  to  the  crop  and  reduce  cost  of  fertilizer  application.  The  entire  quantity  of domestically manufactured urea is now neem coated.
3. Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) is being implemented with a view to promote organic farming in the country.  This will improve soil health and organic matter content and increase net income of the farmer so as to realise premium prices.

4. The  Pradhan  Mantri  Krishi  Sinchai  Yojana  (PMKSY)  is  being  implemented  to expand cultivated  area  with  assured  irrigation,  reduce  wastage  of  water  and  improve water use efficiency.
5.        Government  has  also  recently  approved  a  new  crop  Insurance  scheme  namely Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) to replace National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified NAIS (MNAIS) from Kharif 2016 season.   PMFBY has addressed  the  shortcomings  in  the  earlier  schemes  and  would  be  available  to  the farmers at very low rates of premium. This scheme would provide insurance cover for all stages of the crop cycle including post-harvest risks in specified instances. Some salient features are:
3. (i) Farmers have to pay the lowest ever premium rate.
4. (ii) There  will  be  a  uniform  premium  rate  for  farmers  for  entire  country  -  2% maximum  for  Kharif  food  &  Oilseed  crops,  1.5%  maximum  for  Rabi  food  &  Oilseed crops and 5% maximum for Annual Horticultural/Annual Commercial crops.
5. (iii) The remaining financial burden will be borne by the Government.
6. (iv)            Famers  will  get  full  insurance  cover  -  there  will  be  no  'capping'  of  the  Sum Insured and consequently, claim amount will not be cut or reduced.
7. (v) For  the  first  time,  inundation  has  been  included  under  localized  risk  cover,  in addition to hailstorm and landslide. Individual farm level assessment of crop loss will be done for this.
8. (vi) For  the  first  time,  post  harvest  losses  arising  out  of  cyclones  and  unseasonal rains through out the country have been covered.
9. (vii) For the first time, emphasis has been given to mobile and satellite Technology to facilitate accurate assessment and quick settlement of claims.
10. (viii) Crop  Insurance  Portal  has  been  launched.    This  will  be  used  extensively  for better administration, co-ordination, dissemination of information and transparency.
11. (ix) Coverage of areas to be increased from 23%, at present to 50% in 2 to 3 years.
6.       Further the Government undertakes procurement of wheat and paddy under its 'MSP  operations'.    In  addition,  Government  implements  Market  Intervention  Scheme (MIS) for procurement of agricultural and horticultural commodities not covered under the Minimum Price Support Scheme on the request of State/UT Government, in order to protect  the  growers  of  these  commodities  from  making  distress  sale  in  the  event  of bumper crop when the prices tend to fall below the economic level/cost of production.
7.        Availability of institutional credit to the farmers is one of the key focus areas of the Ministry for improving the financial conditions of the farmers.  The agricultural loan target for the year 2016-17 has accordingly been increased to Rs.9 lakh crores by the Government from Rs.8.5 lakh crore in 2015-16.

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