Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday conducted her third press conference in as many days.
The finance minister on Day 1 and 2 discussed how the Rs 20 lakh crore economic stimulus would be distributed amongst the marginalised, the urban poor, rural poor, farmers, and tribals.
On Day 3, Nirmala Sitharaman, while addressing the Aatma Nirbhar Bhaat speech by PM Narendra Modi, spoke on the supply chain. The third part of her press conference spoke on agriculture, dairy and allied activitiy.
"The largest portion of India's population depends on agriculture," she said, adding that Indian farmers overcome all adversities including monsoon, drought and stood up to the challenge, endured a lot, and helped India reach certain global benchmarks. "India is the largest milk, jute and pulse producer in the world. It is the second largest in cotton, groundnuts, and fisheries; and we are third in terms of cereals."
While speaking to the audience, Nirmala Sitharaman said there were 11 topics to discuss. Eight of the 11 features would focus on the farmers, while three remaining would be administration-related work.
Nirmala Sitharaman said that a number of steps had been taken to help. "Rs 74,300 crore of purchases based on minimum support price, and Rs 18,700 crore has been submitted into the accounts of farmers in the past two months. Bhima Yojna claims of Rs 6,400 crore have been cleared in the last four months," she said.
There are 242 shrimp hatcheries whose accounts have been renewed so that the fishermen aren't hassled during this time, the finance minister added.
While discussing the third trench, these were the points discussed
Rs 1 lakh crore for aggregators, Farmer Producer Organisation:
The idea is to strengthen the farm gate infrastructure. "These include whole chains, post harvest infrastructure, storage centres. Private entrepreneurs and start-ups will also benefit from this," Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Rs 10,000 crore in a cluster-based approach for food enterprise
Food enterprises that are in micro size will get a fund of Rs 10,000 crore. "Local value-added products can reach out to the global market by creating global standards. We will help them market their products. Products include health products, alternatives for healthy living, nutritional products, etc. We expect 2 lakh micro food manufacturing enterprises to benefit from this," she said, citing the example of Bihar which has the makana cluster, Telangana will have turmeric (the west loves Turmeric Latte), as how states could go ahead to benefit from this. "Focus will be on women and aspirational districts."
Logistics, capacity under Matsya Sampada Yojana
Money would be provided to fisheries and the marine industry. The idea is to give employment to 55 lakh people across the country. In addition, there will be personal and boat insurance. "This will result in 55 lakh tonnes of fish production in India," she said.
Animal vaccination
Animals that were infected could not come into the market, thereby affecting the animal husbandry population, as well as the dairy industry. Nearly 54 crore domestic animals need to ensure vaccination. "Since January, we have managed to tag and vaccinate 1.5 crore livestock. Now, this work will continue with great speed in green zones," she said.
Animal husbandry Rs 15,000 crore
Rs 15,000 crore is aimed as an incentive to support setups in the dairy industry. "We also encourage the production of niche products like local cheese and other products in the dairy industry," Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Promotion of herbal cultivation
Rs 4,000 crore is being allocated for the cultivation of medicinal plant. "Another 10 lakh hectares will be provided to cultivate these plants and this will hopefully give the farmers Rs 5,000 crore," she said, adding that 800 hectares will be allotted to either side of the banks of the River Ganga to grow these plants.
Bee cultivation and the importance
The government of India is allocating Rs 500 crore for beekeeping initiatives that will benefit 2 lakh beekeepers in India. "We can at least reduce the import of bee wax and honey, which may be a small amount, but it will have a ripple effect on the rural economy," Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Rs 500 crore for Operation Greens (Top to Total)
Tomatoes, onions and potatoes had distress sales and for this, we need to give 50 per cent subsidy for transportation and another 50 per cent for storage to the farmers. "This is a pilot project, which was seen during the lockdown as it harmed the supply chain," the finance minister added.
Amendments to the Essential Commodities Act
The amendment will be largely towards cereals, oilseeds, onions and potatoes will be deregulated. Essential Commodities Act will be amended towards making sure that cereal, oil, potatoes, onion will be deregulated. Stock limits to be imposed in exceptional circumstances. No such stock limit will apply for food processes, value chain participants
Central law for farmers to have a choice to sell produce at an attractive price
There will be no barriers in inter-state trade. The government is working towards developing a framework where the farmer can e-trade produce. "This is one of the reasons why the farmer does not get a fair price," the finance minister said.
Ensuring that farmers have a standard mechanism to predict the sale of produce
The government is looking to form a legal framework to help farmers fix their own fare price and export it by themselves. This hopefully, will see an increase in produce thanks to exchange of technology, the finance minister said.
