In the first 100 days of the current government, it has sought to give a boost to farmers’ remuneration t through assured procurement of pulses and oilseeds under the minimum support price (MSP) while continuing with the policy of direct cash transfer to farmers under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan).
There has been an effort to correct the terms of trade by balancing the interests of farmers and consumers. However, while some trade-distorting measures have been recently corrected, frequent interventions in the market by the government, including in exports and imports still remain a cause for concern.
The Narendra Modi 3.0 government appointed four-time chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan to head both agriculture and rural development ministries. For the first time Chouhan also initiated discussions with ministers of several states including Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and several north-eastern states to assess the challenges faced by the agriculture sectors in each state.
The government has recently removed the minimum export price imposed on basmati and rice and onion to boost exports primarily aimed at ensuring remunerative prices for the farmers.
Just after the formation of the new government, the 17th installment of the PM Kisan was released on June 18, 2024, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi transferring over Rs 21,000 crores to more than 92 million farmers. Experts have been advocating an increase in Rs 6000 transferred to each farmer annually in three equal installments since PM Kisan was launched in 2019 because of the rise in prices of several inputs used in agriculture.
The focus of the agriculture ministry has been to progress towards self-sufficiency in production of pulses varieties like tur, urad, masoor, moong and chana, and edible oil production such as mustard, soybean, til and groundnut through promising farmers assured purchase at MSP). An official said in the current season several non-traditional areas in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Odisha have been encouraged to grow pulses.
The cabinet also approved continuation of the Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan (PM-Aasha) , an umbrella scheme to ensure minimum support price (MSP) to farmers and curb price fluctuations in essential commodities for consumers. The agriculture ministry has allocated Rs 35,000 crore till FY26. However, the government has remained non-committal on the farmer bodies’ long-standing demand for legally guaranteed MSP purchases.
Officials said the government is aiming to purchase kharif pulses such as tur, urad and masoor from farmers which Chouhan said would help in boosting output and reduce import dependence of pulses.
While the government recently announced allowing unhindered ethanol production from sugarcane feedstock in the 2024-25 ethanol year which Deepak Ballani, Director General, Indian Sugar & Bio-Energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA) said ‘would cut greenhouse emissions and boost revenues for sugar mills, ensuring timely payments to farmers and supporting sustainable growth,”.
To promote usage of digital technology while boosting research on crops sytem more resilient to climate changes, the cabinet recently approved close to Rs 14,000 crore outlay for seven programmes related to the agriculture sector, including a Rs 2,817 crore digital agriculture mission and a Rs 3,979-crore scheme for crop science research.
Officials said the digital agriculture mission involves Agri Stack — farmers registry, village land maps registry, crop registry and Krishi decision support system which will leverage geospatial data, drought and flood monitoring, weather and satellite data, and groundwater availability information to assist farmers in making informed decisions.
Under AgriStack, 110 million farmers will be given a digital identity similar to Aadhaar, which will be referred to as ‘Kisan ki Pehchaan’ in the next three years. Official that 60 million farmers are expected to get these unique IDs by the end of current fiscal.
To equip farmers against erratic weather patterns, 109 weather-resilient, high-yielding, and bio-fortified seed varieties of agricultural crops developed by institutes affiliated to Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) were released last month. These ‘breeder seeds’ varieties approved by the Central Variety Release Committee of the agriculture ministry for the 15 agro-climatic zones in the country, are expected to be available for large-scale cultivation to farmers over the next two to three years, officials said
“The focus of the government is to develop farmer centri agri-value chains which are going to boost income of the cultivators,” Binod Anand, member of the MSP committee set up by the agriculture ministry, told FE.