Eye on 2019, PM Modi reaches out to farmers

New Delhi: With Lok Sabha elections just nine months away, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday showcased his government’s “unprecedented” work in agriculture sector, including doubling of the budget to Rs 2.12 lakh crore.

Mr Modi also reiterated that his government is working to double farm income by 2022. He spoke to farmers from over 600 districts via video-conferencing, highlighting the government interventions right from seeds to market that is aimed at addressing farm distress.

The government, through an extensive and balanced policy, is aiming to provide inputs like quality seeds, fertilisers, water and electricity as well as markets for increasing farmers’ income, he said.

“We have decided to double farmers income by 2022... When I talked about doubling of farmers income, there were many people who made fun that this is not possible and difficult. They created an atmosphere of doom. But we decided as I had full faith in farmers,” Mr Modi informed.

To achieve this target, he said the four cornerstones of the government policy are cutting input cost, fair price for the crop, preventing post-harvest losses and creating alternate sources of income.

The Prime Minister said in the Budget for 2018-19 fiscal, the government announced that the minimum support price (MSP) for all crops will be fixed at least 1.5 times the cost of production. He also listed out all the costs that will be included while fixing the MSP.

“The budget allocation for the agriculture sector in 5 years of the previous government was Rs 1.21 lakh crore. This has been increased to Rs 2.12 lakh crore during 2014-19, which is almost double. This clearly reflects our commitment to farmers welfare,” he said.

Stating that there has been “unprecedented development” in the farm sector during the last four years, the Prime Minister highlighted that foodgrains production in the country touched an all-time high of 280 million tonnes during 2017-18 crop year as against an average production of 250 million tonnes during 2010-14.

There has also been bumper production of fruits, vegetables and milk, he said, adding that pulses production has increased by an average 10.5 per cent. Production of fish and milk grew by 26 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively. Egg output has risen by 25 per cent.

“Our effort is to provide farmers assistance at all stage of agriculture — at the time of sowing, after sowing and at the time of harvesting,” he said, adding the policy interventions are being planned to help farmers right from seeds to markets.