Letters: Fighting agrarian distress

The involvement of private companies in mitigating agrarian distress is a welcome reform to create a more conducive environment for farmers

With reference to “Ploughing private capital in agriculture” (December 26), in his Budget speech of 2017-18, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley termed mitigation of agrarian distress a “non-negotiable agenda for our government” and increased the total allocation for the rural, agriculture and allied sectors to ~1,87,223 crore, 24 per cent higher than the previous year. More farmer-friendly provisions were incorporated into the flagship Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. To further the role of the private sector in agriculture, he envisaged a “Model Contract Farming Act” that would provide statutory backing to a system of farming and marketing in which agro-processing/exporting or