(a) whether the Government has taken any measures to support farmers, especially small and landless farmers in the rural areas of the country including Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) if not, the reasons therefor?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
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(a) to (c): The Department is implementing various schemes for the welfare of farmers including small and marginal farmers including in Uttar Pradesh & Jharkhand. The strategy is to improve net returns to the farmers by enabling them to realise higher yields at lower cost and benefit from better market prices. Some important schemes include Soil Health Card Scheme (SHC), Neem Coated Urea, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY), National Agriculture Market scheme (e-NAM), Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), etc.
Under Interest Subvention Scheme, short term crop loan upto Rs.3.00 lakh is provided to farmers at a subvented interest rate of 7% per annum. Further, in the case of farmers, who promptly repay their crop loans as per the repayment schedule fixed by the banks, 3% prompt repayment incentive is granted to such farmers. Thus, the effective interest rate for the short term crop loan is 4% per annum.
In order to discourage distress sale by farmers and to encourage them to store their produce in warehouses against warehouse receipts, the benefit of interest subvention scheme has been extended to small and marginal farmers having Kisan Credit Card for a further period of upto six months post the harvest at the same rate as available to crop loan against negotiable warehouse receipt in Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) accredited warehouses.
Under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) for holistic growth of the horticulture sector covering fruits, vegetables, root and tuber crops, mushrooms, spices, flowers, aromatic plants, coconut, cashew, cocoa and bamboo, subsidy is provided to the farm
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size limited to 4 hectare, in majority of its interventions. Also, small and marginal farmers are mobilized to form Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs)/ Farmer Interest Group (FIG) for aggregation and economies of scale. FPOs are eligible for financial assistance under MIDH. The Mission also plays a vital role to enhance income of farmers through various interventions, such as, diversification to High Value horticulture of orchards and plantation crops, vineyards, vegetables & flower gardens, bee keeping, mushroom cultivation and off season vegetables. In certain components like cultivation of flowers in open fields, there is a provision to provide higher rate of assistance for small and marginal farmers for upliftment of small and marginal farmers.
Under National Food Security Mission (NFSM), at least 33% of funds are earmarked for small and marginal farmers.
Under the Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) under the main Mission i.e. National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology (NMAET), it is proving a suitable platform for converging all activities for inclusive growth of agricultural mechanization by providing a ‘single window’ approach for implementation with a special focus on small & marginal farmers.
Under the Per Drop More Crop (micro irrigation) at least 50% of the allocation is to be utilized for small & marginal farmers. Further, 10% additional financial assistance is available to small & marginal farmers as compared to other farmers. National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) guidelines also envisage that at least 50% of the allocation is to be utilized for small & marginal farmers i.e. for Rainfed Area Development (RAD) and Sub Mission on Agro Forestry (SMAF) Schemes.
Under the Soil Health Card Scheme (SHC) assistance is provided to all State Governments to evaluate soil health in all farm holdings across the country and issue Soil Health Cards to farmers (including small and marginal farmers) regularly in a cycle of two years.
Joint Liability Group is an informal group comprising 4 to 10 individuals coming together for the purpose of availing bank loan on individual basis or through group mechanism against mutual guarantee. The JLG mode of financing serves as collateral substitute for loans to be provided to the target group i.e. small, marginal, tenant farmers, oral lessees, share croppers, etc. It builds mutual trust and confidence between the bank and the target group and minimizes the risks in the loan portfolio for the banks through group dynamics, cluster approach, peer education and credit discipline. The objective of the JLG mode of financing is to provide food security to vulnerable section by enhanced agriculture production, productivity and livelihood promotion. JLGs can also easily serve as a conduit for technology transfer, facilitating common access to market information, training and technology dissemination in activities like soil testing, training and assessing input requirements, etc.
The Scheme for financing of Joint Liability Groups of Tenant Farmers was started by NABARD in 2005-06. The scheme was extended to non-farm sector from 2009 onwards. Thus, JLGs consists of farmers and non-farmers. The announcement of Union Budget for 2014-15 for financing of 5 lakh Joint Liability Groups of ‘Bhoomi Heen Kisan’ (landless farmers) has given further credence to efforts of NABARD in innovating and reaching out to the landless farmers through JLG scheme of financing. Financing of 25.42 lakh Joint Liability Groups from 2014 to 2017 during last 3 years has been done as compared to 6.7 lakh JLGs during the 7 years from 2007 to 2014. Rs.27,929.67 crore were made available to JLGs during the last three years from 2014 to September, 2017 as compared to Rs.6,630 crore made available to JLGs during 2007 to 2014.
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