Government efforts for Sustainable Agriculture

The Government has adopted several developmental programmes, schemes, reforms and policies that focus on higher incomes for the farmers and to promote Sustainable Agriculture and Farmers Prosperity.

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1) PM KISAN

• With a view to provide income support to all farmers’ families across the country, to enable them to take care of expenses related to agriculture and allied activities as well as domestic needs, the Central Government started a new Central Sector Scheme, namely, the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN).
• The scheme aims to provide a payment of Rs. 6000/- per year, in three 4-monthly instalments of Rs. 2000/- to the farmers families, subject to certain exclusions relating to higher income groups.

2) Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana (PM-KMY)

• Further with a view to provide social security net for Small and Marginal Farmers (SMF) as they have minimal or no savings to provide for old age and to support them in the event of consequent loss of livelihood, the Government has decided to implement another new Central Sector Scheme i.e. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana (PM-KMY) for providing old age pension to these farmers.
• Under this Scheme, a minimum fixed pension of Rs. 3000/- will be provided to the eligible small and marginal farmers, subject to certain exclusion clauses, on attaining the age of 60 years

3) Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)

• With a view to provide better insurance coverage to crops for risk mitigation, a crop insurance scheme namely Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) was launched from Kharif 2016 season.
• This scheme provides insurance cover for all stages of the crop cycle including post-harvest risks in specified instances, with low premium contribution by farmers.

4) Giving a major boost for the farmer’s income, the Government has approved the increase in the Minimum Support Price (MSPs) for all Kharif & Rabi crops for 2018-19 season at a level of at least 150 percent of the cost of production.

5) Implementation of flagship scheme of distribution of Soil Health Cards to farmers so that the use of fertilizers can be rationalized.

6) “Per drop more crop” initiative under which drip/sprinkler irrigation is being encouraged for optimal utilization of water, reducing cost of inputs and increasing productivity.

7) “Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)” for promoting organic farming.

8) Launch of e-NAM initiative to provide farmers an electronic transparent and competitive online trading platform.

9) Under “HarMedh Par Ped”, agro forestry is being promoted for additional income. With the amendment of Indian Forest Act, 1927, Bamboo has been removed from the definition of trees. A restructured National Bamboo Mission has been launched in the year 2018 to promote bamboo plantation on non forest government as well as private land and emphasis on value addition, product development and markets.

10) Giving a major boost to the pro-farmer initiatives, the Government has approved a new Umbrella Scheme ‘Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PMAASHA)’. The Scheme is aimed at ensuring remunerative prices to the farmers for their produce as announced in the Union Budget for 2018. This is an unprecedented step taken by Govt. of India to protect the farmers’ income which is expected to go a long way towards the welfare of farmers.

11) Bee keeping has been promoted under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) to increase the productivity of crops through pollination and increase the honey production as an additional source of income of farmers.

12) To ensure flow of adequate credit, Government sets annual target for the flow of credit to the agriculture sector, Banks have been consistently surpassing the annual target. The agriculture credit flow target has been set at Rs. 13.50 lakh crore for the F.Y.2019-20, Rs.15.00 lakh crore for F.Y. 2020-21 and Rs 16.50 lakh crore for FY 2021-22.

13) Extending the reach of institutional credit to more and more farmers is priority area of the Government and to achieve this goal, the Government provides interest subvention of 2% on short-term crop loans up to Rs.3.00 lakh. Presently, loan is available to farmers at an interest rate of 4% per annum on prompt repayment.

14) Further, under Interest Subvention Scheme 2018-19, in order to provide relief to the farmers on occurrence of natural calamities, the interest subvention of 2% shall continue to be available to banks for the first year on the restructured amount. In order to discourage distress sale by farmers and to encourage them to store their produce in warehouses against negotiable receipts, the benefit of interest subvention will be available to small and marginal farmers having Kisan Credit Card for a further period of upto six months post harvest on the same rate as available to crop loan.

15) The Government has extended the facility of Kisan Credit Card (KCC) to the farmers practicing animal husbandry and fisheries related activities. All processing fee, inspection, ledger folio charges and all other services charges have been waived off for fresh renewal of KCC. Collateral fee loan limit for short term agri-credit has been raised from Rs.1.00 lakh to Rs.1.60 lakh. KCC will be issued within 14 days from the receipt of completed application.

16) Several market reforms have been rolled out . These include

• Promotion of 10,000 FPOs by 2024
• Model APLMC (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2017
• Establishment of 22,000 number of Gramin Agriculture Markets (GrAMs) as aggregation platforms
• Agri-Export Policy, that targets to double agri-exports by 2022
• The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Act., 2020
• The Farmers (Empowerment & Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act., 2020
• Amendments to Essential Commodities Act, 1955, that deregulates various agri-commodities.

Above 3 Farm Acts can be accessed here: Click here

All the above schemes can be read in the following pdf: click here

For schemes and critical analysis on Agriculture reforms: click here

17) Creation of Corpus Funds

• Micro Irrigation Fund – Rs. 10,000 crore
• Agri-marketing Fund to strengthen eNAM and GrAMs – Rs. 2,000 crore
• Agricultural Infrastructure Fund (AIF) to build agri-logistics (backward & forward linkages) – Rs. 100,000 crore including Rs 500 crores for Bee-keeping

• All these policies & programmes are being supported by higher budgetary allocations, non-budgetary financial resources by way of creating Corpus Funds like Micro Irrigation Fund and Agri-marketing scheme to strengthen eNAM and GrAMs, as also in the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and to promote dairy and fishery sectors.
• There have been several reforms to unleash the potential and these include Market Reforms like Model APLMC (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2017; Establishment of Gramin Agriculture Markets (GrAMs); Agri-Export Policy, 2018; The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2020; The Farmers (Empowerment & Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act. 2020; Amendments to Essential Commodities Act, 1955; Promotion of 10,000 FPOs with necessary financial support under Atma Nirbhar Package (Agriculture) and Supplementary Income transfers under PM-KISAN; Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY); Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY); Increase in Minimum Support Price (MSPs) for all Kharif & Rabi Crops ensuring a minimum of 50 percent of profit margin on the cost of production; Har Med Par Ped; Bee-Keeping; Rashtriya Gokul Mission; Blue Revolution; Interest Subvention Scheme; Kisan Credit Card (KCC) that now offers production loan to even dairy & fishery farmers besides agricultural crops etc.

Progress in doubling Farmer’s income

The strategy adopted by the Government for increasing income is

• Higher volume of output through higher productivity
• Lower cost of production and
• Higher real remunerative returns on the farmers’ produce.

What are the steps taken?

• In the case of production, the farmers have been registering higher productivity across all segments of Agriculture.
• There has been recorded growth in total output of food grains, oilseeds, horticulture, milk and so on.
• The annual production under various sectors has increased appreciably as seen at the end of the year 2020-21. These include a food grains output of 303.34 MTs as against 252.23 MTs (2015-16); 326.58 MTs of fruits & vegetables as against 259.3 MTs (2015-16); 208 MTs of milk as against 155.49 MTs (2015-16).
• Major emphasis has been on post-harvest management, which is helping farmers in getting better returns on their produce.
• These include e-NAM, new state marketing Act, direct trade, contract farming, FPOs, agri-logistics, food processing and so on besides healthier procurement operations.
• Government’s emphasis on robust procurement of agricultural produce has also ensured better returns to farmers and served as an incentive. In addition to increases in procurement of paddy & wheat through FCI, the quantum of procurement of pulses & oilseeds has leap frogged since 2014-15.
• Under the new procurement scheme called PM-AASHA, NAFED has been procuring much more than before.
• As of now, there is no latest estimate of annual income of farmers achieved and the percentage annual increase vis-a-vis the base year 2015-16. For the purpose of arriving at the average annual income for the year 2015-16, the DFI Committee extrapolated the NSSO survey based income estimates for the year 2012-13, and estimated that average farmers income stands at Rs. 96,703/- per year for the year 2015-16 at 2015-16 prices.
• PM-KISAN is an ongoing and continuous Scheme. The entire responsibility of identification of beneficiaries rests with the State / UT Governments. An exclusive web-portal www.pmkisan.gov.in has been launched for the Scheme.
• The financial benefits are released to the beneficiaries on the basis of the data of farmers prepared and uploaded by them on the PM-KISAN web-portal. The data uploaded by the State/UT Governments undergoes three levels of validation. Data that passes all three levels of validation is then processed for the release of benefits. Any data that is found incorrect is sent back to the respective States/UTs for correction.
• Budgetary allocations are made at the beginning of financial year based on the anticipated expenditure to be incurred in the financial year, however, any additional requirement of funds based on the actual expenditure is fulfilled by the Government by way of supplementary grants.
• The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme is being implemented with a view to provide income support to all landholding farmer families across the country, to enable them to take care of expenses related to agriculture and allied activities as well as domestic needs.
• The Scheme, effective from 1.12.2018, aims to provide a payment of Rs.6000/- per year for the farmers’ families with cultivable land holding, subject to certain exclusions. The financial benefit of Rs.6000/- is being released by the Central Government in three 4-monthly instalments of Rs.2000/- over the year directly into the bank accounts of the eligible farmers under Direct Benefit Transfer mode. Any additional requirement of funds will be fulfilled by Government by way of supplementary grants. Central Government has been requesting State Governments from time to time so that all eligible farmers are covered under PM-KISSAN Scheme.

Organic Farming

• It means no use of hazardous chemicals. Government rule says atleast 3 years, a farmer must grow only then, Organic farming can be granted.
• Effect of Inorganic Fertilizers and other agro-chemicals on Soil and Plants
  1. It results in nutrient loss and increases soil acidity with nitrification.
  2. Emission of Ammonia, Methane, Nitrous oxide and elemental nitrogen from soil as a result of denitrification.
  3. Depletion of secondary and micro nutrients especially Sulphur and Zinc.
  4. Nitrogen Fertilizers without the use of organic manures, there is always the human depletion and fall in the crop production.
  5. Nitrate pollution of drinking water in Punjab due to leaching.
• Advantages of Organic Manures
  1. It provides all the nutrients required by the plants but in limited quantities.
  2. It helps in maintaining the C: N ratio in the soil and also increases the fertility and productivity of soil.
  3. It improves structure and texture of the soils.
  4. It increases the water holding capacity of the soil.
  5. Nutrients present in the lower depths are made available to the plants.
  6. It minimizes the evaporation and loss of moisture from the soil.
• Major organic sources and transformations
  1. Carbon present in the soil is in the form of organic matter. The organic materials includes Farm yard manure (FYM), animal wastes, crop residues, urban organic wastes, green manures, biogas slurry, vermicompost etc.
  2. For all organic matter, atmospheric CO2 serve as the main source of Carbon which is converted to Carbon by plants and algae (aquatic habitat).
  3. Calvin cycle leads to Carbon fixation. It involves reduction of CO2 by hydrogen donor NADPH and then synthesis of carbohydrate from reduced carbon.
  4. A great variety of microorganisms live in soil which includes bacteria > actinomycetes > fungi > algae > protozoa.
  5. Organic manures include bone meal, tree leaves, dry; green manures (cowpea, mothbean, green gram etc); edible oilcakes (coconut, groundnut, sesame etc.) and non edible oilcakes (cotton, karanj, neem, safflower etc.)
• Green Manuring
  1. It is the practice of ploughing or turning into the soil undecomposed green plant tissues for improving physical structure as well as soil fertility.
  2. It includes Sesbania aculeate, S. rostrata, Crotalaria juncea, Tephrosia perpurea, Green gram, Black gram and Cow pea.
  3. Advantages of Green manure
     1. It improves both physical and chemical properties of soil.
     2. It provides nutrients and energy to microbes as they decompose rapidly and easy to retain the organic matter.
     3. It acts as mulch and prevent soil erosion. It controls the leaching of nutrients in light soils.
     4. It can control weeds. They can minimize the use of nitrogenous fertilizers.
• Vermicomposting
  1. It is the culturing of Earthworms. It is applied for composting non toxic solids and liquid wastes from dairies, cities, sugar factories, pulp and paper mills, tanneries, fermentation industries and food processing units.
  2. Benefits of Earthworms
     1. It improves soil fertility and recycling of city and rural waste, sewage waste and sludge and industrial wastes.
     2. It is used in Unani system of medicine for treatment of some diseases.
     3. It improves the physical condition of soil and corrects deficiencies in plants.
• Biofertilizers consist of Nitrogen fixers (Rhizobium, Azetobactor, Blue green Algae, Azolla), Phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) and fungi (Mycorrhiza).
• Biofumigation: Green manures can be used to interrupt pest and disease cycles similarly as crop rotation: It is Biofumigation. It can be used to control root knot nematodes and root rot fungal pathogens, reducing the need to use toxic chemicals for soil fumigation.
• Govt has launched National Project on Organic Farming, 2004.

e-Technology in Agriculture

• Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is continuously working to upgrade technology and provide quality seeds to farmers.
• During this process the advancements made in the agricultural sciences both within India and outside are considered for their replication under the suitable farming situations.
• ICAR focuses on development/ adoption of new technologies such as- high yielding and multi-stress resistant/tolerant varieties/hybrids in major crops; multi-nutrients rich varieties of rice, wheat, maize, lentil and pearl millet and improved quality of mustard and soybean; blast resistant wheat varieties; transgenic varieties in cotton, pigeonpea and chickpea; exploitation of gene editing technology for improving desired traits in rice and wheat and development of extra-early/early maturing varieties of pulses especially mungbean and pigeonpea.
• During 2014 till January 2021, a total of 1575 varieties of 70 field crops have been developed which include 770 of cereals, 235 of oilseeds, 236 of pulses, 170 of fibre crops, 104 of forage crops, 52 of sugarcane and 8 of other crops. In addition, 288 varieties of horticultural crops have also been released and notified.
• Besides, 150 seed hubs in pulses and oilseeds have also been established in the country to produce and distribute quality seed of pulses and oilseeds. ICAR has developed several locations specific, cost effective, eco-friendly, socially acceptable scientific farming practices in farmers’ participatory mode addressing issues at ground level keeping in view the farmers’ resource availability, traditional indigenous technology. ICAR has developed several improved farm implements/machines, process protocols and value-added products to reduce input costs, drudgery and post-harvest losses in production post production agriculture.
• For small holder farmers, ICAR has developed 60 Integrated Farming System (IFS) models including 8 Integrated Organic Farming System models for adoption in 22 states and 3 Union Territories.
• To promote organic farming in the country, 39 crops based 51 cropping systems have been developed, which are suitable for farming in 12 states. Government of India is promoting organic farming and zero budget natural farming under various schemes.
• These are traditional agricultural technologies which uses cattle and are beneficial for small farmers. Pramaparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) scheme provides an assistance of Rs. 50,000 per ha for three years to farmers to use organic inputs. Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER) provides Rs. 25,000 per ha for three years for farmers to use organic inputs.
• Also, this scheme has provision up to Rs. 2 crores for formation of FPOs, capacity building and post-harvest infrastructure.
• Introduction of fuel driven farm equipment and tractors have ensured completing different farm operations within their timeliness and saved a lot of cost of operation with reduced drudgery.
• In order to prevent adverse effect of chemical fertilizers, the Council is advocating judicious use of chemical fertilizers through soil test based balanced and integrated nutrient management encompassing conjunctive use of both inorganic and organic sources of nutrients viz. FYM/Compost, biofertilizers, green manures etc. to the farmers.

One District One Focus Product Scheme

• Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, and Ministry of Food Processing Industries has finalized the products for One District One Focus Product (ODOFP).
• Products - Agricultural, horticultural, animal husbandry, poultry, milk, fisheries, aquaculture, marine and processed food sectors.
• These products are finalized after taking inputs from States/UTs and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
• They will be promoted in a cluster approach through convergence of the schemes, to increase the farmers’ income and value of the products.
• Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare will support ODOFP from its ongoing centrally sponsored schemes -Mission for Integrated Development of Agriculture, National Food Security Mission, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana.
• Ministry of Food Processing Industries will support these products under the PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PM-FME) scheme - provides incentives to promoter and micro-enterprises.
• This scheme needs to be implemented by State Governments.
• The One District One Focus Product (ODOFP) programme cover products of agriculture and allied sectors for 728 districts of the country.
• The Government has decided to converge resources from ongoing centrally sponsored schemes such as Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), National Food Security Mission (NFSM), Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), schemes of Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying for ODOFP.
• The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) provides financial support under Centrally Sponsored Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PM FME Scheme) for One District One Focus Product.
• PM FME provides financial, technical and business support for upgradation of existing micro food processing enterprises etc.
• The scheme adopts One District One Product (ODOP) approach to reap the benefits of scale in terms of procurement of inputs, availing common services and marketing of products.
• The identified products have potential for both domestic demand and export. PM FME scheme envisages strengthening backward and forward linkages, provision of common facilities, incubation centres, training, research and development (R&D), marketing and branding. The enhanced capacity of processing and value addition in agriculture and allied sector products is for better price realization by the farmers. This scheme is being implemented for a period of five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25.

Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs)

• 1st KVK in Puducherry. 100% funded by Govt.
• KVKs are sanctioned to Agri Universities, ICAR, related Govt Depts and NGOs working in Agri.
• KVK, is an integral part of the National Agricultural Research System (NARS). It aims at location specific technology modules.

Functions

• On farm testing to assess location specificity of Agri technologies.
• Frontline demonstrations to establish production potential of technologies.
• as Knowledge and Resource Centre.
• Provide farm advisories using ICT
• KVKs produce quality tech products (seed, planting material, bio-agents, livestock) and make it available to farmers.

The following steps have been taken by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research to make Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) more effective in the interest of farmers:

• Technical staff of the KVKs are regularly trained on latest agricultural technologies for upgrading their knowledge and skill.
• Management Development Programme is organized for the newly recruited heads of the KVKs for better management of KVKs.
• KVK Portal has been developed to integrate all the KVKs of the country for online monitoring and management of KVKs and to disseminate useful knowledge and technologies to farmers
• The KVKs are provided with different demonstration units, farm machineries and vehicles.
• As per requirement, large number of KVKs have been strengthened with other infrastructure facilities like, Pulses seed hubs, soil testing kits, micro-irrigation systems, etc. during last five years.
• Collaboration with different Departments have been made for different activities like establishment of District Agro-Met Units in KVKs in convergence with India Meteorological Department; and organization of Frontline Demonstrations on oilseeds and pulses and Skill Development Training Programmes in convergence with Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare.