(a) the details of various concessions and incentives provided to farmers for agricultural development particularly during COVID-19;
(b) whether some suggestions have been received from various sectors regarding the grant of industry status to agriculture and any work has been done by the Government in this regard; and
(c) the details of the action plan launched by the Government for sustainable development of agriculture sector and farmers?
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERSWELFARE
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(a) Details of concessions and incentives given to farmers for agricultural developmentduring Covid-19 are given at Annexure.
(b) Agriculture and industry supplement each other. Government seeks to bestow on agriculture sector as many benefits as available to those in the manufacturing sector such as easy availability of credit and other inputs like quality seeds, fertilizers, electricity, irrigation, mechanizationetc and creation of infrastructure facilities for marketing and post-harvest management for development of the agriculture sector.
(c) National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) is being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare aiming at transforming Indian agriculture into an ecologically sustainable climate resilient production system, while ensuring food security, employment and livelihood opportunities in rural areas. Technologies associated with Climate Resilient Agriculture are promoted through missions/schemes.
Activities/Schemes/Programmes under the mission are (i) Rainfed Area Development (ii) Soil Health Management (iii) Soil Health Card (iv) Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (v) Mission Organic Value Chain Development in North Eastern Region (vi) Per Drop More Crop component of Pradhan MantriKrishiSinchayeeYojana and (vii) Restructured National Bamboo Mission. A scheme on Crop Residue Management is also being implemented.The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has also launched a flagship network project ‘National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture’ (NICRA) in 2011. The project is being implemented through different components viz., strategic research on adaptation and mitigation, demonstration of technologies on farmers’ fields in 151 clusters of villages one each from climatically vulnerable districts and creating awareness among farmers and other stakeholders to minimize the climatic change impacts on agriculture.