Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday discussed ways to reform the agriculture sector with an emphasis on marketing, farmers’ access to institutional credit and freeing the sector from restrictions with legal backing.
The government has maintained that the farm sector is functioning smoothly despite the lockdown to check the spread of COVID-19, and the lockdown will not have much impact on its growth in the current financial year, unlike other sectors.
The pros and cons of biotechnological developments in crops or productivity enhancement and reduction in input costs were also deliberated, an official statement said.
The meeting discussed strategic interventions in the marketing ecosystem and reforms in the context of rapid agricultural development. Concessional credit flow to strengthen infrastructure, a special Kisan Credit Card saturation drive for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) beneficiaries and facilitating inter- and intra-State trade of agriculture produce to ensure the fairest return to farmers were some of the other important areas covered, the statement said.
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Developing eNAM or the National Agriculture Market (NAM) into a “platform of platforms” to facilitate e-commerce was among the important topics of the meeting. Also discussed was a uniform statutory framework to create new ways of farming, which will infuse capital and technology into the agrarian economy.
The challenges of the Model Agricultural Land Leasing Act, 2016, and protecting the interests of small and marginal farmers were discussed at the meeting attended by Home Minister Amit Shah, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
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The meeting also discussed ways to make the Essential Commodities Act compatible with the present times so as to incentivise largescale private investment in post-production infrastructure.
Developing ‘Brand India’, creation of commodity-specific boards/ councils and promotion of agri-clusters or contract-farming were some of the interventions that were discussed to boost exports.
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The use of technology in agriculture is of paramount importance as it has the potential to unlock the entire value chain for the benefit of farmers.
Mr. Modi underscored the importance of the dissemination of technology till the last mile and making farmers more competitive in the global value chain.
The meeting decided to further strengthen the role of Farmer Producer Organisations to make the agrarian economy vibrant and agriculture trade transparent and to create the maximum benefits to farmers. The overall emphasis was on revisiting the laws governing the market for better price realisation and allowing farmers the freedom of choice, the statement said.
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Mr. Modi wrote on Twitter that the meeting reviewed aspects of agriculture reform. “Our priority areas are reforms in agriculture marketing, management of marketable surplus, access of farmers to institutional credit and freeing agriculture sector of various restrictions,” he said.
