Doubled agriculture-budget to Rs. 2.12L crore to double farm-income: Modi
Interacting with farmers across 600 districts through the NaMo app, PM Narendra Modi today said the government has doubled the agriculture budget to Rs. 2.12L crore in order to double farmers' income by 2022. For this, the four key areas are "cutting input cost, fair price for the crop, preventing the produce from rotting and creating alternate sources of income," he said.
'Credit for India's food security completely goes to farmers'
Listing the work done by the Modi government for farmers, he mentioned the e-Nam platform had removed middlemen and was giving farmers right prices. With the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, farmers don't have to worry about impact of weather on crops. The soil health card helps them assess the best seeds for their land. Ninety-nine projects had already been completed under the PM Agricultural Irrigation Scheme.
'India has seen growth in foodgrain, milk, fisheries and more'
All this has led to record growths in not just the foodgrain sector, but also in milk, fruit and vegetable production, Modi said. Fisheries had grown 26% and animal husbandry, 24%. A lot of this was due to coupling of technological innovation and farming, he said. The drip irrigation system would help more by "reducing the burden that our farmers have to face in irrigating."
'Congress ignored farmers, left them on their own'
Despite their contributions, farmers had been ignored by the previous Congress government, Modi said. "With time, the benefits to the farmers started declining and eventually they were left on their own."
This was Modi's first direct dialogue with farmers
Today was the first time Modi had a direct dialogue with farmers across India, said Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh. It was telecast directly by Doordarshan, DD Kisan, Akashvaṇi, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, and Common Service Centers. It was the sixth outreach initiative undertaken by Modi to mark the government's fourth anniversary. Earlier, he interacted with beneficiaries of various schemes via NaMo app.
