MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
???? ??? ????? ?????? ½ãâ¨ããè (SHRI RADHA MOHAN SINGH)
(a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 239 DUE FOR REPLY ON 15TH DECEMBER, 2015.
(a): The Consumer Price Indices (CPI) for Fruits and Vegetables have increased marginally over the last year. The Year-on-Year Inflation Rate (%) has started to decline largely since March, 2015 for fruits and vegetables, as well. The details are at Annexure-I.
(b): Government has taken several measures to increase production of fruits and vegetables.
(c) & (d): The Government is implementing the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) for procurement of Horticultural and Agricultural commodities which are generally perishable in nature and are not covered under Price Support Scheme (PSS). The objective is to provide remunerative prices to the growers and protect their interest. Government of India announces Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) on the specific request from State Government to prevent distress sale of Horticulture and other commodities in falling market. Under the scheme, losses are shared by State Government/Government of India on 50:50 basis with the ceiling of 25% of the procurement cost. The commodities covered under the Scheme include Onion, Potato, Ginger, Kinnow, Red Chillies, Black Pepper, Coriander Seed, etc.
The details of MIS operations under taken by NAFED/State Agency are at Annexure-II
(e): Government is taking several measures to increase production of fruits and vegetables, some of which are as under:
o The Government is implementing the National Agriculture Market (NAM).
Contd…2/-
-2-
As per the scheme, a common e-market platform is being deployed to link the existing physical mandis across the country through online enabling buyers situated even outside the State to participate trading at local level. It will ensure significant benefits through higher returns to farmers, lower transaction costs to buyers and stable prices and availability to consumers.
o Government has advised State Governments to encourage direct marketing, farmer consumer markets and e-markets.
o To boost the production of vegetables and fruits in the country, Government is implementing Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) which provides support for production of planting material, vegetable seed production, vegetable cultivation, rejuvenation of senile orchards, protected cultivation, creation of water resources, creation of infrastructure to prevent post harvest losses of horticultural crops, adoption of Integrated Nutrient Management (INM)/Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and organic farming including insitu generation of organic inputs. Assistance for increasing horticulture production is also being provided under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) scheme.
o Assistance is provided for development of infrastructure for post harvest management and marketing such as storages, wholesale markets, rural primary market, Kissan Mandies, etc.
o Implementing Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) for procurement of agricultural and horticultural commodities including fruits & vegetables.
Contd…3/-
-3-
o Setting up of Price Stabilisation Fund with a corpus of Rs. 500 Crores to provide working capital to State Government/ State Agencies/ Central agencies such as SFAC, NAFED, FCI, etc. for procurement and distribution of perishables agricultural and horticultural commodities. The fund is to be used to buy produce directly from producers at the time of major production cycles and hold it in storage for its gradual / regulated release into major markets, so as to check the steep price rise in important commodities including onion and potato.
o The Government has also issued advisory to States, as Agriculture Marketing is regulated as per the state APMC Acts, for de-regulating sale of fruits and vegetables outside the APMC market yard. This is expected to encourage development of alternate avenues of sale such as direct marketing, private markets, farmer consumer markets, etc. as well as retain the option of APMC market yard. The farmer will get more options for sale of his/her produce at more remunerative prices.
Download PDF Files
