Kailash Choudhary, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, urged farmers to take advantage of government schemes such as the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund and a subsidy on drone purchases.
Minister spoke at the CFTRI in Mysuru at the opening session of TechBharat 2022, a three-day conclave and exhibition that aims to bring together stakeholders from the food technology and agriculture sectors. He emphasized the need of farmers adding value and branding their produce by establishing their own processing plants in order to boost their earnings.
Recognizing the challenges faced by individual farmers in creating their own processing facility, Mr. Chaudhary proposed that roughly 300 farmers join together to form Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO). The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund was established by the Indian government with the goal of helping 10,000 FPOs across the country.
Despite the fact that the government had set aside one lakh crore for the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, he regretted that only 6,000 crore had been spent on the project since it began roughly one and a half years ago. He explained, "This is because farmers are unaware of the scheme."
Aside from warehouses, the Fund can be used to build playhouses, cold storage, sorting, or grading units. He stated that the government will provide loan assistance up to 2 crore with a 3% interest discount, and that farmers will not need to present any collateral in order to make use of the facility.
The minister stated that FPOs were entitled for a 75% discount on the purchase of drones for agricultural usage. Drones in agriculture will not only monitor for pesticides' adverse effects when sprayed on crops, but the censors will also assist farmers in applying the exact quantity of pesticide or fertilizer necessary for the crop.
He told that the Narendra Modi government had raised its agriculture sector budget to enable farmers not only double but multiply their income.
Prior to 2013, the country's annual agriculture budget was Rs 23,000 crore. However, it is now worth Rs.1.32 lakh crore, which is about six times greater. Through the Kisan Samman Nidhi, Rs 65,000 crore is going straight into the accounts of farmers at a rate of Rs 6,000 each.
He asserted that a huge number of young people in the country were now interested in working in agriculture as a result of the country's progress in the industry. He said that some young people have launched start-ups to make India Atmanirbhar.
B.C. Patil, Karnataka's Minister for Agriculture, former CEO of Infosys Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman of APEDA, Department of Commerce M. Angamuthu, and CFTRI Director Sridevi Singh were also in attendance.
