Government undertakes periodical review of performance of various schemes. Due to Government’s interventions from time to time, the following achievements were recorded and new schemes were initiated for the benefit of farmers:-
(i) 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.
(ii) 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.
(iii) Launch of PM-KISAN in 2019 -an income support scheme to farmers providing Rs. 6000 per year in 3 equal installments.
(iv) 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 29.22 crore farmer applicants enrolled and over 8.83 crore (Provisional) farmer applicants have received claims of over Rs. 101875 crore.
(v) Institutional credit increased from Rs.7.3 lakh crore in 2013-14 to Rs. 16.5 lakh crore in 2021-22.
(vi) Soil Health Cards have been issued free of cost to nearly 11 crore farmers under a nationwide program.
(vii) 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.
(viii) 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.
(ix) Within a year of the launch of AIF, the scheme mobilized Rs.7700 Crore agriculture infrastructure in the country for more than 7300 projects.
(x) Scheme for Formation and Promotion of 10,000 FPOs launched with a total budgetary provision of Rs. 6865 Crore in February 2020.
(xi) 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 2022-2023 has been allocated for the sector.
(xii) 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.
(xiii) 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.
(xiv) 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 31.10.2021) an amount of Rs. 4878.31 crore have been allocated for agricultural mechanization.
(xv) In 18 states and 03 UTs, 1000 markets have already been integrated with the E-NAM Platform. As per Budget 2021-22 announcement, another 1000 mandis will be integrated with e-NAM.
(xvi) 646 start-ups in the agriculture and allied sectors have been selected (till 31 March 2021) for funding of a sum of Rs. 69.92 crore in instalments and Rs. 33.94 crore have been released to respective KPs and RABIs for funding these start-ups.
This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in Lok Sabha.
****