Government’s measures for agriculture sector | Fusion - WeRIndia

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced various measures for the agriculture sector as part of ₹20 lakh crore economic package of the Indian government.

Here are the highlights of the third tranche of announcements made by the Finance Minister:

• Nirmala Sithraman announced 11 measures for the agriculture sector. Out of them, eight are related to the strengthening of infrastructure and logistics while the remaining three reforms are governance and administrative related.
• ₹1 lakh crore funding is provided for FPOs for strengthening farm-gate infrastructure for farmers and address the issues of agricultural startups.
• ₹10,000 crores are allocated towards a scheme for the formalisation of Micro food enterprises (MFEs). This scheme will help unorganised MFEs to meet FSSAI standards, marketing etc.
• ₹20,000 crores are allocated to Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada for fishermen to help in their employment. Around 55 lakh people will be benefited from this scheme.
• ₹13,343 crores are given for a national animal disease control program.
• A fund of ₹15,000 crores will be set up for Animal Husbandry infrastructure development.
• Herbal cultivation will be promoted in 10,00,000 hectares of land in the next two years with an amount of ₹4,000 crores. This programme will help farmers generate more income.
• A scheme for beekeeping has been introduced with an outlay of ₹500 crores. The scheme will mainly focus on beekeeping development centres, collection, marketing, storage etc.
• An area of 800 hectares will be developed as a corridor of medicinal plants along the bankside of River Ganga by National Medicinal Plants Board.
• In order to help farmers get better prices and bring in competitiveness in the agriculture sector, the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 will be amended. Products like cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onions, and potatoes will be de-regulated with this amendment.
• Barrier-free inter-state trade will be allowed for the farmers so that they can get a fair price.
• Operation Green will be extended to all fruits and vegetables (TOTAL).

Image by FelixMittermeier from Pixabay  (Free for commercial use)

Image Reference: https://pixabay.com/photos/summer-sunset-meadow-nature-2391348/