Question : Problems of Farmers

(a) whether the Government is aware of the fact that farmers are facing problems and hardships in the country and if so, the details thereof;

(b) if so, whether the Government has taken measures to identify the major problems of agriculturists in the country and if so, the details thereof and the steps taken to resolve these problems;

(c) whether quality seeds are out of reach of majority of farmers, especially small and marginal farmers mainly because of their exorbitant prices and if so, the details thereof;

(d) the concrete measures taken to provide good quality seeds to small and marginal farmers at fair prices; and

(e) the average holding of farmers in the country, State/UT-wise along with action taken to educate small farmers about the benefits of co-operative farming in the country?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

‡ãðŠãäÓã ??? ????? ?????? ½ãâ¨ããÊã¾ã ½ãñâ À㕾㠽ãâ¨ããè ( SHRI PARSHOTTAM RUPALA)

(a) & (b): Agrarian distress is manifest from the unfortunate incidents of suicides from various part of the country. This can be addressed by enabling the farmers to increase their income. To achieve this, the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare is realigning its interventions to focus on income of farmers in addition to making production better. For this purpose, the Department is implementing various schemes to meet this objective viz. Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme, 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), Interest Subvention Scheme etc.


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(c) & (d): No, Madam, as reported by the States, 419.41 lakh qtl. certified/ quality seeds are available against the requirement of 371.38 lakh qtl. in the country during the 2017-18.

The Govt. of India is assisting the State Governments and other seed producing agencies for seed related activities through various ongoing schemes/programmes of the Department including National Food Security Mission (NFSM), Bringing Green Revolution in Eastern India (BGREI),National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP), Mission on Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), Sub-Mission on Seeds & Planting Material (SMSP) under National Mission on Agricultural Extension & Technology (NMAET) etc. for supply of seeds to the all the farmers including small and marginal farmers at subsidized prices and details are at Annexure-I.

(e): Agriculture Census in India is conducted at five yearly intervals to collect data on various structural characteristics of operational Holdings (defined as “All land which is used wholly or partly for agricultural production and is operated as one technical unit by one person alone or with others without regard to the title, legal form, size or location”) in the country. As per the latest published results of Agriculture 2010-11, average size of operational holdings for various State/ UTs and in the country is at Annexure-II.

The Government runs capacity building programmes for personnel of the cooperative sector under schemes such as, the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), National Council for Cooperative Training (NCCT), National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC).

Further, Government has been laying special emphasis on dissemination of information and knowledge transfer to the farmers through a series of initiatives like Extension Reforms, Mass Media Support to Agricultural Extension, Kisan Call Centers, Agri-Clinics and Agri-Business Centers, Exhibitions/ Fairs etc. Further, a network of 681 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) has been established by India Council of Agricultural Research to facilitate farmer’s access to knowledge and information generated by Agricultural Universities and ICAR Institutes of the country.