Govt working on making domestic, intl markets accessible to farmers: PM Modi

Emphasizing on Centres thrust on the agriculture sector Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the government working towards making domestic and international markets accessible to the farmersPrime Minister addressed the postbudget webinar on Agriculture and Cooperatives on Friday It is the second of a series of 12 postbudget webinars organized by the government to seek ideas and suggestions for the effective implementation of the initiatives announced in the Union Budget 2023Addressing the gathering PM Modi highlighted the importance given to the agricultural sector in this years budget as well as budgets of the past 89 years He informed that the agricultural budget which was less than Rs 25000 crore in 2014 has been increased to more than Rs 125 lakh crore today Every Budget in recent years has been called a budget for Gaon Gareeb and Kisan Modi saidNoting that Indias agricultural sector remained distressed for a long time since independence the Prime Minister pointed out the countrys dependence on the outside world for our food securityHe highlighted how Indias farmers transformed the situation by not only making the nation selfreliant but also capable of exporting food grainsToday India is exporting many types of agricultural products the Prime Minister said as he shed light on the efforts of the government to make domestic and international markets accessible to the farmersHe also stated that Indias goal should not be limited to rice or wheat when it comes to selfsufficiency or export Highlighting the imports in the agricultural sector the Prime Minister gave examples of expenditures of Rs 17000 crore in 202122 for the import of pulses 25000 crore for the import of Value Added Food Products and Rs 15 lakh crore spent on the import of edible oils in 202122He further added that the sum of all agricultural imports was about Rs 2 lakh crore The Prime Minister emphasized that various decisions are being continuously taken in the budget to promote the agricultural sector so that the nation becomes atmanirbhar and the money used for imports can reach our farmersHe gave examples of an increase in Minimum Support Price MSP promotion of pulse production increase in the number of food processing parks and work in mission mode to become completely selfsufficient in terms of edible oilThe Prime Minister underlined that the goal of complete development cannot be achieved until the challenges related to the agriculture sector are eliminated He observed that private innovation and investment are keeping a distance from this sector which leads to low participation of Indias youth in the agricultural sector compared to the other sectors which witness active participation and growthPM Modi highlighted that various announcements have been made in this years budget to fill this lacuna Drawing an analogy to the open platform of UPI he mentioned the Digital Public Infrastructure platform in the agriculture sector and noted the immense possibilities of investment and innovation in agritech domainsThe Prime Minister listed out the opportunities such as improving logistics making large markets more accessible promoting drip irrigation through technology installation of soil testing labs along the lines of medical labs He also urged the youth to work towards delivering the right advice at the right time while creating a bridge of information between the government and the farmer about their innovations and also assisting in policy makingThe PM also touched upon using drones for crop approximation while providing realtime information about weather changesAlso Read Our mantra of peace progress prosperity is reason behind peoples trust PMHe spoke about the introduction of accelerator funds for agritech startups and said that the government is not only creating digital infrastructure but also preparing funding avenues He urged the youth and young entrepreneurs to move forward and achieve their goals The Prime Minister pointed out that India is home to more than 3000 agristartups today compared to next to nothing 9 years agoThe Prime Minister touched upon the International Year of Millets and said that its international identity is opening a gateway to the global market for Indian farmers The country has now identified coarse grains as Sri Anna in this budget he remarked He said that Shri Anna is being promoted for the benefit of our small farmers as well as to increase the possibility of growth of startups in this sectorA new revolution is taking place in the cooperative sector of India PM Modi remarked as he pointed out that it is not limited to some states and some regions of the country anymoreHe said that taxrelated reliefs have been given to the cooperative sector in this years budget which will benefit new cooperative societies engaged in manufacturing He further added that TDS will not be levied on cash withdrawals up to Rs 3 crore by cooperative societies The Prime Minister also mentioned the important decision of tax exemption given to the payment made by the sugar cooperative before 201617 and said that it will benefit the sugar cooperative to the tune of Rs 10000 croreThe Prime Minister emphasized that sectors such as dairy and fisheries which did not have cooperatives earlier will greatly benefit the farmers today Throwing light on the huge opportunities for our farmers in fisheries the Prime Minister informed that fish production in the country has increased by about 70 lakh metric tonnes in the last 89 yearsHe also touched upon a new subcomponent that has been announced under the PM Matsya Sampada Yojana at a cost of Rs 6000 crore which will give a boost to the fisheries value chain as well as the marketPrime Minister touched upon the PM Pranam Yojana and Gobardhan Yojana where the government is working towards promoting natural farming and reducing chemicalbased farmingThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or 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