Agriculture was at
the centre-stage of priority sectors for the government in 2016, upstaged only
at the fag-end of the year by the demonetisation drive of the government.
Significantly two consecutive droughts did not dampen the indomitable spirit of
Indian farmers who, as per the fourth advance estimates for 2015-16 crop year,
produced 252.22 million tonnes of foodgrains as against the output of 252.02
million tonnes last year.
Recent
steps
To augment supplies and keep prices under check, it
was decided to allow wheat import at zero per cent duty on private account. The government has assured farmers that it will
procure more foodgrains for the Public Distribution System and swiftly
intervene in the market to ensure that wheat growers get the minimum support price. In a way, the year 2016 saw digitisation of the
agriculture sector in a big way with mobile apps being launched in quick
succession. The Agriculture Ministry launched Kisan Suvidha for weather information, market prices and crop
diseases; PUSA Agriculture that
gave information about new variety of seeds and latest techniques. Agri Market that gives news about mandi prices in a
radius of 50 kms from the location of a farmer; Crop
Insurance relating
to all information about fasal bima; Crop Cutting Experiments for
asking for crop cutting experiments. This year, not only was the limit for farm sector
lending by formal banking system raised to an all-time high of Rs. 900,000
crore, initiatives were taken—post-demonetisation—to encourage farmers to move
towards cashless transactions and Direct Benefit Transfer of payments. Be that as it may, the year 2016 saw the government
give high priority to the agriculture sector in order to address the major
fundamental concerns about imbalanced use of fertilizers affecting soil health
(issuance of soil health cards, neem-coated urea and organic farming). Related sectors of pulses, oilseeds, horticulture,
fishery, livestock, milk, agro-forestry, bee-keeping, agriculture education,
research and extension were also given focussed attention. To keep prices of pulses under check, the
government set up a 2-million tonne buffer stock of pulses and augmented
availability through imports as well as domestic supplies. At
the same time, under the National Food Security Mission, the highest allocation was made for pulses and
steps were taken to enhance production which had a cooling effect on prices. Rs 20,000 crore corpus fund has been created in
collaboration with NABARD for the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna which
is dedicated to bringing water to every field (Har Khet Ko Paani) through
completion of last-mile projects and drip and micro-irrigation. An area of
76.03 lakh hectare is proposed to be brought under irrigation by 2019. One of the ambitious programme launched during the
year was the weather-based Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PM’s
Crop Insurance Scheme) for which Rs. 5500 crore were set aside. Under the
scheme there will be no cap on who can be covered and the states and central
government pick up 90 per cent of the premium. The year also saw focus with renewed vigour on the
second green revolution in eastern and north eastern states for meeting food
security needs of a growing population.
Source:PIB
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