Puts forth various initiatives undertaken by the government for the welfare of the farmers
Narendra Singh Tomar recently participated in the 42nd Session of FAO Conference held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. India is a founder member of the FAO and has played a significant role since its inception as Chair and member of various statutory bodies and committees.
While speaking at the conference, Tomar congratulated the Food and Agriculture Organization for completing 75 glorious years of service to humanity and said that the Country Program Framework prepared by FAO India in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India is aligned with national priorities and has a much required multi-sectoral approach.
FAO has benefitted from India’s vast repository of knowledge which is shared globally among the member countries. India has been working closely with FAO, extending technical expertise and assistance in incidences of transboundary pests mainly Fall Army Worm and Desert Locust. Tomar acknowledged the support of FAO in endorsing the Indian proposal for an International Year of Pulses which was celebrated in 2016 and for declaring 2023 as the International Year of Millets.
Tomar further mentioned that agriculture has always been a high priority for India and the Government of India is always committed to the welfare of farmers. The COVID 19 pandemic has further put the spotlight on the sector.
He said, “I note with satisfaction that the agriculture sector in India performed well during the severe COVID-19 pandemic and registered an all-time high production of 305 million tonnes of food grains as well as their exports contributing to the Global Food Security. Faced with the debilitating Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, the Government of India took swift actions on different fronts to ensure that the farming calendar is not affected by the restrictions imposed during the lockdowns. These initiatives of Government of India ensured timely sowing of the crops, availability of agricultural inputs and proper harvesting and procurement of the crops.”
According to him, significant policy and legislative decisions were taken during this period to liberalise agri marketing to transform Indian agriculture for the benefit of farmers and consumers. Parcel trains with refrigeration facilities “the KISAN RAIL” were introduced by Indian Railways to transport the essential commodities including perishable horticulture produce, milk and dairy products from the production centres to the large urban markets across our vast country creating a win-win situation for the producers and consumers.
He mentioned the ’Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package’ where free food grains were provided to 810 million beneficiaries and now, in May, the scheme has been further extended in which workers will be benefited till November. More than Rs 137000 crore have been sent to the bank accounts of over 100 million farmers under the “PM Kisan” Scheme to provide income support to the farmers.
Tomar opined that India has launched various projects under the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture to develop, demonstrate and disseminate the techniques to make agriculture resilient to adverse impacts of climate change. India is promoting organic farming on a large scale.
He said, “I am sure that unflinching efforts of FAO with all the member countries to improve agriculture productivity, end hunger and malnutrition would go a long way to make the world a safer and healthier place to live in.”
