Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and Rural Development Shivraj Singh Chouhan informed here on Friday that Modern Kisan Chaupal – Lab to Land will be launched in October in which scientists will provide direct information to the farmers.
He said that agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy and is also the base of our life and it is the biggest responsibility of the government to provide food security to 140 crore countrymen.
“We have a six-point strategy for the welfare of farmers and development of agriculture,” he said while addressing a press conference on the occasion of important decisions and achievements for the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare in 100 days during the third term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“First – increasing production, how to increase the yield per hectare? Among the decisions taken recently, the major decision was that to increase the production of crops, the Prime Minister had dedicated new seeds of 109 varieties of 65 crops to the farmers, which are climate-friendly, pest resistant and high yielding,” Chouhan said.
“Second – Reducing the cost of production, as important as it is to increase production, it is equally important to reduce the cost of production. One way of reducing it is to provide cheap fertilizers to farmers. We are committed to ensuring that farmers get cheap fertilizers on time,” he said.
The Union Minister said a bag of urea costs Rs 2366. “We make it available to farmers for Rs 266. A bag of DAP costs Rs 2433 which we make available to farmers for Rs 1350,” he added.
Chouhan said another special work has been done in 100 days since the launch of the Digital Agriculture Mission has been approved.
The minister said the National Pest Surveillance System is very important for farmers and they have also started using it.
“We are trying to increase the production of horticultural crops along with traditional crops. We are setting up 9 modern centers to achieve this goal,” informed the Union Minister.