Addressing farm problems government's highest priority: President

President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday said that addressing farmers' problem and raising their standard of living was the highest priority of the government.

In his address to the joint sitting of Parliament on the first day of the Budget session, Kovind said the government schemes were aimed at removing farmers' hardships and doubling their income.

He also said the government was working "actively and with sensitivity" to remove the feeling of economic insecurity among the farmers, besides reducing farm input cost.

"My government is committed to doubling of farmers' income by 2022. To ensure remunerative price to the farmers for their produce, the agriculture mandis are being connected online," he said

"So far, agricultural commodities valued at about Rs 36,000 crore have been traded on e-NAM portal."

To enhance the income of farmers, an ambitious scheme has been introduced in the dairy sector under which a 'Dairy Processing Infrastructure Development Fund' with a corpus of Rs 11,000 crore is being set up, Kovind said.

He said the work of completing 99 Irrigation projects that were held up for decades was in progress.

The government was protecting the interests of farmers by giving production bonus on pulses and oil seeds, Kovind said.

"As a result of government's policy for pulses, their production went up by more than 38 per cent as compared to last year, which is a record," he said.

The President also said a scheme called Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana has been launched to prevent damage to agriculture produce before it reaches the market and to ensure its safe storage.

"The supply chain and infrastructure in the agricultural sector are being modernised under this scheme," he said.

He said farmers were being given affordable and simple crop insurance services under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.

"During 2017, under Rabi & Kharif crops, 5 crore 71 lakh farmers were provided protective coverage under this scheme," he said.

Mandatory 100 per cent Neem coating of urea had eliminated its black marketing, the President added.

--IANS

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