Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar held a meeting with industry representatives on initiatives and reforms for rapid agricultural development and increasing farmers’ incomes through a Video Conference on Thursday.
What came up for discussions were two Ordinances recently promulgated by the Cabinet-The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020” and “The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020”.
Besides, availing Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of Rs 1 lakh crore were also debated by the participants. Industry veterans, Parshottam Rupala, Minister of State for Agriculture, Sanjay Agarwal, Secretary (Agriculture) and senior officers of the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare were present on the occasion.
Tomar said the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of Rs 1 lakh crore would facilitate in strengthening the agricultural infrastructure, development and improvement of warehouses, cold storage, pack houses and marketing facilities in the rural areas, which would enhance the income of farmers and boost rural economy.
Within one month of its approval by the Union Cabinet, Rs. 1128 crore has been sanctioned to Primary Agriculture Credit Cooperative Societies. The govt has formulated and approved a Central Sector Scheme titled “Formation and Promotion of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs)” to form and promote 10,000 new FPOs. The scheme was launched by the Hon Prime Minister on 29.02.2020, stated Tomar.
Under the scheme, formation of 10,000 FPOs across the country is targeted in five years period till 2023-24, while providing adequate handholding to each FPO for five years from the formation, for which support will continue till 2027-28.
A presentation on both the Ordinances, FPOs and Reforms in Agriculture Marketing was made by the Joint Secretary (Marketing), DAC&FW highlighting all the aspects related to their benefits to the farmers and other stakeholders.
Industry representatives present on the occasion said that these historical reforms will unleash the potential of the agriculture sector and help in moving towards “One Nation, One Market” which will benefit farmers and farmers’ groups immensely.
Parshottam Rupala, Minister of State said that emphasis has been given to bring strategic interventions in the existing marketing ecosystem and bringing farmer centric reforms aiming towards rapid agricultural development.