The President was addressing the Joint Sitting of two Houses of Parliament
The government is working continuously to empower the farmers and the rural economy of the country. This was stated by President of India Ram Nath Kovind to the Joint Sitting of two Houses of Parliament. He said, despite the pandemic, Indian farmers produced more than 30 crore tonnes of food grains and 33 crore tonnes of horticulture produce in 2020-21.
The government procured 433 lakh metric tonnes of wheat during the Rabi season benefiting about 50 lakh farmers. A record quantity of about 900 lakh metric tonnes of paddy was procured during the Kharif season, benefiting 1 crore 30 lakh farmers.
He further mentioned, “Agriculture exports have also reached a record level due to the efforts of the government. Agricultural exports registered a growth of more than 25 per cent in the year 2020-21, and have reached nearly Rs 3 lakh crore.”
Because of incentives provided to honey production, domestic production of honey has reached 1,25,000 metric tonnes in 2020-21, an increase of about 55 per cent compared to 2014-15. Export volume of honey has also grown by more than 102 per cent as compared to 2014-15, is what was stated by the president.
Kovid said, “To ensure remunerative prices to farmers for their crops, the products must reach the right market. In this direction, the government has endeavoured to open new avenues of prosperity for the farmers by launching Kisan Rail Seva. During the corona period, Indian Railways operated over 1,900 Kisan Rails on more than 150 routes to transport perishable food items like vegetables, fruits and milk, thereby transporting about 6 lakh metric tonnes of agricultural produce. This is an example of how new avenues can be created from the existing resources if the thinking is innovative.”
He added, “Under the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi, Rs 1,80,000 crore have been provided to more than 11 crore farmer families. With this investment, the agriculture sector is witnessing major transformations today. Thousands of projects have been approved under the agriculture infrastructure fund having a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore. To ensure self-sufficiency in edible oil, the government has also launched the National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm with an outlay of Rs 11,000 crore. The government is also making special efforts like organic farming, natural farming and crop diversification.
