Govt's top priority is to mitigate problems of farmers: Ram Nath Kovind
The government's top priority is to mitigate problems of farmers and all agri-schemes are focused towards raising their standard of living by doubling income by 2022, said President of India Ram Nath Kovind.
Agri-marketing facilities like e-NAM, setting up post harvest infrastructure and encouraging allied activities like dairy are being promoted by the government to support farmers, he added.
The government's foremost priority is to remove various difficulties faced by farmers and to raise their standard of living, said President while addressing to the joint sitting of both the Houses of Parliament on Monday.
Also, the government is committed towards doubling farmers’ income by 2022, he said. Agri-mandis are being connected online to ensure remunerative price to farmers for their produce, he added.
So far, agricultural commodities valued at about Rs 36,000 crore have been traded on the e-NAM portal and as many as 470 wholesale agriculture mandis have been linked to the electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) so far against the target of 585 mandis by end of this fiscal.
The government is also working towards completing 99 irrigation projects that were held up for decades along with protecting the interests of farmers by giving production bonus on pulses and oil seeds.
To prevent damage to agriculture produce before it reaches the market and to ensure its safe storage, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana has been launched. The supply chain and infrastructure in the agricultural sector are being modernised under this scheme, he said.
‘Dairy Processing Infrastructure Development Fund’ scheme has been introduced to enhance the income of the farmers.
As a result of the government’s policies and the hard work of farmers, the country achieved a record food grain production of over 275 million tonne and about 300 million tonne of horticultural produce in 2016-17 crop year, he said.
-PTC News
