Roaring from the Red Fort Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated a big chunk of his speech to farmers and their issues but, alas, no mention of the role being played by cooperatives. His choice of topics touched practically all the aspects but cooperative.
Doubling farmers’ income is a passion for this govt, said Modi quoting lines of Guru Govind Singh who laid emphasis on hard-labour. Despite two years of consecutive droughts our farmers have ensured adequate supplies of food-grains. When the crisis of dalhan hit us farmers have sowed dalhan in a big way this year. Govt is also encouraging them by offering support and bonuses, said the Prime Minister.
This govt does not treat a problem in parts but has rather holistic approach. We focused on all the issues concerning farmers and farming and have come up with solution for each, said Modi from the pulpit of Red Fort.
For soil we decided to have soil card and it has led to 25% reduction in input cost with an increase of 30% in their produce. Similarly, we launched “per drop more crop” and revived some 90 irrigation projects that were nonstarters so far, Prime Minister said.
For ensuring supplies of energy to fields Modi congratulated scientists. This govt has provided 77 thousand solar pumps so far, he said with a sense of pride. Another important input- seed is also in our focus as our agricultural scientists have come up with more than 131 new types of seed which are environment-friendly, PM added. More research on this is going on, he added.
Queuing up for urea- a usual sight in the past has become history. Shortage of urea often led to lathi-charges to control the restive crowds of farmers, Modi recalled patting his govt on the back.
In the Fasal Bima schemes launched by the govt recently, efforts have been made to have minimum premium and maximum returns, he said.
On grain preservation the Prime Minister claimed that godowns for conservation of 15 lakh metric tons have been built up so far.
But most important of what he said was value addition in the produce of farmers so that they are able to get good return on their hard work. The prime minister hinted at setting up of more agro-based industries.