Govt's top priority is to address farmer woes: Prez

President Ram Nath Kovind today said the government's top priority is to mitigate problems of farmers and all agri-schemes are focused towards raising their standard of living by doubling income by 2022.
The government is promoting online agri-marketing facilities like e-NAM, setting up post harvest infrastructure and encouraging allied activities like dairy, he said.
In his maiden address to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament, the President said the government's highest priority is to remove various difficulties faced by farmers and to raise their standard of living.
"The schemes of my government are not only removing their hardships but also reducing the expenditure incurred by them on farming," he added.

Also, the government is committed towards doubling farmers income by 2022, he said.
Highlighting measures taken to boost farm sector, the President said agri-mandis are being connected online to ensure remunerative price to farmers for their produce. So far, agricultural commodities valued at about Rs 36,000 crore have been traded on the e-NAM portal.

As per official data, 470 wholesale agriculture mandis have been linked to the electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) so far against the target of 585 mandis by end of this fiscal.
To increase irrigation coverage, the President said the government's work is in progress towards completing 99 irrigation projects that were held up for decades.

The government is also protecting the interests of farmers by giving production bonus on pulses and oil seeds.
To prevent damage to agriculture produce before it reaches the market and to ensure its safe storage, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana has been launched. The supply chain and infrastructure in the agricultural sector are being modernised under this scheme, he said.
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.
With regard to fertiliser input, the President said on one hand the government's policies have helped increase the production of urea, while on the other hand the mandatory 100 per cent neem-coating of urea has eliminated its black marketing.

The work on reopening of fertiliser plants at Gorakhpur, Barauni, Sindri, Talcher and Ramagundam is progressing at a fast pace, he added.
As a result of the governments policies and the hard work of farmers, the country achieved a record foodgrain production of over 275 million tonne and about 300 million tonne of horticultural produce in 2016-17 crop year, he added.