Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Rural Development Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday said that the growth rate of the agriculture and allied sectors is likely to be between 3.5 per cent and 4 per cent this year.

“For this, I congratulate our farmers and ministers of all states, as these results are a direct outcome of their hard work,” he said during a virtual review meeting of various schemes with the Agriculture Ministers of states/UTs.

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While reviewing the various works of the ministry, Chouhan said, “With new resolutions in the new year, we will take forward the work of agricultural development and farmer welfare at a fast pace. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said from the Red Fort that in his third term, he will work with renewed vigour, three times his strength. We should also resolve to work with our full potential.”

The minister added, “Under the leadership of Mr Modi, we will implement a 6-point strategy for farmer welfare and development in the agriculture sector. We will first focus on increasing production and aim at increasing production per hectare or per acre. To achieve this, ICAR will continue to research and release improved varieties of seeds.

“We are working in many directions like micro irrigation schemes, mechanisation, use of technology, and new agricultural methods, etc. How to reduce the cost of production along with increasing production? We are working on reducing the cost of production to increase income rapidly,” he said.

Chouhan said that the PM has started PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. “I am happy to tell you that till now an amount of Rs 3.46 lakh crore has been distributed to 11 crore farmers in 18 instalments. More than 25 lakh eligible farmers were added in the first 100 days of Modi ji’s third term. The number of people taking benefit of the 18th instalment increased to 9.58 crore,” he added.

The Union Minister said that the PM Crop Insurance Scheme is the world’s largest crop insurance scheme. In this, loanee applications are 876 lakh and non-loanee applications are 552 lakh. A total of 14.28 crore (14 crore 28 lakh) farmers have applied, 602 lakh hectare area is insured and the gross insured amount is Rs 2,73,049 crore (2 lakh 73 thousand 049 crore rupees). Four crore farmers have benefited from the scheme. Since the inception of the scheme, Rs 17,000 crore has been given to farmer brothers in the form of claims.

He said, “We have a provision of subsidy on fertilisers to reduce the cost of production. Last year, Rs 1 lakh 95 thousand crores were spent. The cabinet decided on January 1 that the provision of Rs 66 thousand crore in the crop insurance scheme has been increased to more than Rs 69 thousand crore. Fertiliser subsidies like DAP will now be available at the price of Rs 1,350 per 50 kg bag, a provision of Rs 3,800 crore has been made for this.

The Union Minister said that many measures have been taken, including the arrangement of loans at low interest on Kisan Credit. There is a provision for Minimum Support Price (MSP) so that farmers get the right price for their production. He said that whatever wheat and rice come, arrangements are made to buy it at MSP. From 2014-15 to 2024-25, 7 thousand 125 lakh metric tonnes of wheat has been purchased.

He said under the Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan, 1,60,818.63 metric tonnes (1 lakh 60 thousand 818 metric tonnes) of oilseeds, pulses, and copra were procured. From 2014-15 to 2024-25, 3,338 lakh (33 crore 38 lakh) metric tonnes of wheat were procured for which 2.83 crore (2 crore 83 lakh) farmers were given MSP of Rs 6.04 lakh crore (6 lakh 4 thousand crore). From 2019-20 to 2024-25, 3.6 lakh (3 lakh 60 thousand) metric tonnes of maize was procured for which MSP is Rs 660 crore. From 2019-20 to 2024-25, 41.19 lakh (41 lakh 19 thousand) metric tonnes of coarse grains (Shri Anna) were procured, whose MSP is Rs 12,153 crore (12 thousand 153 crore). From 2014-15 to 2024-25, 171 lakh metric tonnes of pulses were procured, for which 94.51 lakh (94 lakh 51 thousand) farmers were given MSP of Rs 91,892 crore (91 thousand 892 crore). Under MSP, Rs 1,588.48 crore (1 thousand 588 crore) was paid, which benefited 1,33,358 (1 lakh 33 thousand 358) farmers.

The Union Minister informed that under the Agri Infra Fund, lending institutions will give loans of Rs 1 lakh crore. An amount of Rs 51,783 crore (51 thousand 783 crore) has been approved for projects worth Rs 85,314 crore (85 thousand 314 crore) till 2024. Out of this, Rs 39,148 crore (39 thousand 148 crore) has been covered under scheme benefits. An investment of Rs 85,208 crore (85 thousand 208 crore) has been raised in the agriculture sector from the approved projects.

Chouhan said that it is also necessary to pay attention to the legalisation of crops. States are also making better efforts in this direction. Be it grains or horticulture, production has increased continuously. Food grain production was 265.05 million tonnes in 2013-14, which increased to 328.85 million tonnes in 2023-24. Also, horticulture production was recorded at 352.23 million tonnes. Approval to allocate an amount of Rs 99,311.36 lakh (993 crore 11 lakh 36 thousand) to 15 states as central share to promote the cultivation of oil palm in 1.38 lakh (1 lakh 38 thousand) hectare area under National Edible Oil Mission.

The minister said that the main focus of today’s meeting is on two things. “I welcome all of you to discuss the issues of agriculture in the states. I invite you to talk on every issue. The main objective of today’s meeting is that we give suggestions for the upcoming budget to fulfil our goals. For that, we have also talked to farmers and stakeholders. The Agriculture Minister can explain the problems of farmers in a better way. If there is any suggestion or amendment required in relation to the budget and the ongoing schemes, then give necessary suggestions in this regard,” he said.

During the meeting, he expressed happiness over SBI’s report of the rural poverty rate being below 5% for the first time in the financial year 2024 and discussed it. According to the survey, rural poverty is estimated to be 4.86 per cent in the financial year 2024, which is a sharp decline from 7.2 per cent in the financial year 2023 and 25.7 per cent in the financial year 2012. Similarly, urban poverty has come down to 4.09 per cent in the financial year 2024, while it was 4.6 per cent in the financial year 2023 and 13.7 per cent in the financial year 2012. Recently, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi also said that more than 23 crore people have come out of poverty in the last ten years.

Regarding the crop insurance scheme, he said that the loss was earlier assessed manually through crop cutting but the central government has decided that it will now be done through satellite-based, i.e. remote sensing. This will ensure a correct and accurate assessment of crop loss and the amount will be transferred at the right time through DBT, if any insurance company delays in giving the claim, then it will have to pay 12% interest on the amount. He said that the Centre will give its share of the amount immediately. He appealed to the states to also make arrangements to give money immediately in such a situation. He said that in the interest of farmers, many arrangements are also being made for weather-based crops and many decisions have been taken in the interest of farmers in the recent past.

He also said that in the case of top (tomato, onion, and potato) crops, to bridge the price difference between the producer and consumer states during the peak time of harvesting, the government has decided to bear the cost of transportation and storage for the work done by the central nodal agencies. States should come forward to implement the Price Deficit Payment Scheme as an alternative to oilseeds. For this, the coverage has been increased from the existing 25% to 40% of the state production of oilseeds. The period has also been increased from 3 months to 4 months. Moisture limit in soybean for 2024-25 has been increased from 12% to 15%. So far, 11.41 lakh metric tonnes of soybean has been purchased from 6 states and it is still going on.

Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Dr Devesh Chaturvedi, and other senior officials of the Ministry were present in the meeting.