 "Centre to invest Rs 18,000 crore to build agri-export clusters: Chouhan")
Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today while announcing a plan to invest Rs 18,000 crore for building 100 export clusters for agriculture and Rs 6800 crore to push self-sufficiency in pulses production accepted that there are some problems in the sector for which he is willing to discuss all issues with the farmers and their associations.
"There are problems in agriculture but solutions are also there. We will speak to farmers and farmers association," he said while replying to a discussion in Rajya Sabha on the working of the agriculture ministry and farmers' welfare.
Chouhan further said, "We will resolve it through dialogue and will move forward taking everyone along with us." Chouhan also requested the political parties not to treat the farmers as a vote bank.
On the vision for the sector, the minister said to build a climate-resilient agriculture system in the country, the Central government is developing 50,000 climate-friendly villages across the country on mission-mode apart from developing 1500 new seed varieties.
He said farmers would be given a digital identity of their own for which the government is working on a plan.
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The Congress, on the other hand, accused Chouhan of “lying” and “misleading” the Rajya Sabha and said it would make a case of breach of privilege against him.
“The agriculture minister’s lie was caught red-handed because the Narendra Modi government gave an affidavit in the Supreme Court on February 6, 2015, saying that cost plus 50 per cent cannot be given to the farmers because this will spoil the market,” AICC General Secretary Randeep Surjewala said at a media briefing.
Chouhan admitted on the floor of the House that the government buys crops at minimum support price (MSP) only when the need arises, indicating that the government accepted that it does not buy the farmer’s crops at MSP because it does not consider it necessary, he said.
Aam Aadmi Party member Sanjay Singh said Chouhan claimed that he had reduced the price of fertiliser by Rs 10 which was a falsehood.
Chouhan told the Rajya Sabha that the government was working on a ‘One Health’ approach, which highlights the interrelationship between human, animal, plant, and environmental health.
On the storage and warehousing front, he said the government was investing Rs 1.40 crore on modern post-harvest infrastructure and there were plans to integrate another 1,500 mandis with the electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NaM) programme.
He highlighted the ministry’s emphasis on development of the seed sector by bringing back 2,500 traditional varieties in the crop system existing in 200 districts in the next two years.
To attain self-sufficiency in pulses and oilseeds, the minister said the government was working on developing model pulses and oilseeds villages in the next five years and cover 12 million hectares of area under micro-irrigation.