Radha Mohan Singh inaugurates National Rabi Conference

In his inaugural speech,  Singh proposed to provide finance to 5 lakh joint farming groups of “Bhoomi Heen Kisan” through NABARD in the current financial year.

The Minister said that a very large number of landless farmers are unable to provide land title as guarantee, institutional finance is denied to them and they become vulnerable to money lenders’ usurious lending.

He informed that in order to achieve the targeted growth of agriculture and allied sector at 4 percent, from the year 2014-15, various schemes of Ministry of Agriculture have been restructured into specific Missions/Programmes.

The foodgrains production during 2013-14 as per Fourth Advance Estimates released on 14.8.2014 is estimated at 264.77 million tonnes against 257.13 million tonnes produced during 2012-13. The credit for increased level of foodgrains production goes to the hard work of our farmers, he said.

Singh said that cotton, jute and sugarcane are amongst the main cash crops in India and during the year 2014-15 the Government of India has approved implementation of Crop Development Programme under the NFSM (Commercial Crops) by following Cropping System Approach to encourage farmers to improve productivity of these crops.

Singh informed that deteriorating soil health has been a cause of concern and leads to sub-optimal utilization of farming resources.

Government has, therefore, formulated a Mission to provide every farmer with Soil Health Card.

Issue of 3 crore Soil Health Cards in the current year, 5.50 crore Soil Health Cards in year 2015-16 and 5.50 crore Soil Health Cards in year 2016-17 is targeted.

Besides, 100 Mobile Soil Testing Laboratories (MSTLs) will also be set up in year 2014-15.

The Minister further said that there have also been growing concerns about the imbalance in the utilization of different types of fertilizers resulting in deterioration of the soil.

The Ministry has framed guidelines under Bhartiya Paramparagat Krishi Vikash Pariyojana to promote organic farming and to develop potential markets for organic products. Aim of the project is to maximize the utilization of natural resources through eco-friendly cultivation.

Singh also informed that 'National Agroforestry Policy, 2014 has been approved and it has been decided to take up Plantation of trees on farm bunds in all the developmental programmes of Deptt. of Agriculture & Cooperation, and Government of India to take this Policy forward.'

He further said that National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) envisages Integrated Farming System (IFS) in which activities like horticulture, livestock, fishery, agroforestry, value addition are to be taken up along with crops/cropping system.

The Minister also said that Union Finance Minister in his Budget Speech, 2014-15 has rightly proposed to make farming competitive and profitable by stepping up of investment, both public and private, in agro-technology development and creation and modernization of existing agri-business infrastructure.

He expressed hope that Rabi Conference 2014 would provide a platform for discussion, deliberation and sharing of experiences in charting the course of action in the ensuing Rabi Season.

Secretaries in the Ministry of Agriculture ( Ashish Bahuguna,  Anup Thakur, Ayyappan); other officials of the Ministry and Agriculture Production Commissioners, Principal Secretaries, Secretaries, Commissioners, other officials of Agriculture and allied departments of various States and UT Governments were also present on the occasion.