The Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Radha Mohan Singh listed several schemes initiated by the NDA govt in Rajya Sabha and the two initiatives that came for special mention were neem coated urea and soil health card.
These schemes are aimed at increasing productivity by reducing cost of cultivation, achieving higher yield per unit and realization of remunerative prices for the farmers, he added.
Singh referred to Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme by which the farmers can know the major and minor nutrients available in their soils. It will ensure judicious use of fertiliser application and thus save money of farmers. The balanced use of fertiliser will also enhance productivity and ensure higher returns to the farmers, he said.
He also talked about Neem Coated Urea and said entire quantity of domestically manufactured urea is now neem coated. Neem Coated Urea is being promoted to regulate urea use, enhance its availability to the crop and reduce cost of fertilizers application, he added.
He did not forget to add that Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) is being implemented with a view to promoting organic farming in the country.
Singh also said the Government implements Market Intervention Scheme. The MIS is implemented in order to protect the growers of these commodities from making distress sale in the event of bumper crop when the prices tend to fall below the economic level/cost of production. Losses, if any, incurred by the procuring agencies are shared by the Central Government and the concerned State Government.
Minister also explained govt role in enabling social security protection for the economically weaker and vulnerable sections. In accordance with this priority, the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna (PMSBY) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) were recently launched to address the areas of life and accident risk, and old age income security, he added.
The proposed new National Crop Insurance Scheme will protect the interest of farmers with a broader coverage towards crop losses and other such natural calamities. This is an intervention to cover the risks involved in farming, he underlined.