KURUKSHETRA OCTOBER 2019

component (1.2 million ha/yr target)

1. AGRICULTURE REFORMS: with the motto of 'Har Khet Ko Paani'

TOWARDS DOUBLING FARMERS’ for providing end-to-end solutions

INCOME irrigation supply chain, comprising

What are the various schemes and water sources, distribution network

policies adopted by GOI to promote and farm level applications.

income of farmers?  For Providing Assistance to Small and

 For Higher Production through Marginal Farmers

Productivity Gains  Government of India has launched the

 National Food Security Mission Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman

(NFSM) - for cereals, pulses, oilseeds, Nidhi (PM KISAN) scheme with an
nutri-rich cereals, commercial crops. aim to provide assistance to small and

 Mission for Integrated Development marginal farmer families with an

of Horticulture (MIDH) for high amount of Rs. 6000/- per year.

growth rate of horticulture crops.  Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan Dhan

 National Mission on Oilseeds and Yojna (PM-KMY) has been launched

Oil Palm (NMOOP) launched in 2014- which provides for a payment of a

15 for increasing production of minimum pension of Rs. 3000/- per

oilseeds and Oil palm. month to eligible small and marginal

farmers on attaining the age of 60
 For Reduction In Cost of
years.
Cultivation :
 To Ensure Remunerative Returns :
 Soil Health Card (SHC) to ensure
judicious and optimal use of fertilizer  National Agriculture Market

application thus saving the input cost Scheme (e-NAM) is an innovative

for farmers. market process to revolutionize agri-

markets by ensuring real-time better
 Neem Coated Urea (NCU) is being
price discovery, bringing in
promoted to regulate the use of urea,
transparency and competition to
enhance availability of nitrogen to the
enable farmers to get improved
crop and reduce cost of superfluous
remuneration for their produce,
fertilizer application.
moving towards 'One Nation One
 Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee
Market'.
Yojana (PMKSY) micro irrigation

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 Farmer Producer Organizations  Market Intervention Scheme (MIS)
(FPOs) have been on-boarded on e- for procurement of agriculture and
NAM portal and they have started horticulture products, which are
uploading their produce for trading perishable in nature and are not
from their premise. covered under PSS.

 The Model Agricultural Produce and  For Risk Management and

Livestock Marketing Promotion and Sustainable Practices :
Facilitation) Act, 2017 has been  Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
released on the 24th of April, 2017 for (PMFBY) and Restructured Weather
its adoption by States/UTs, to Based Crop Insurance Scheme
promote alternative competitive (RWCIS) provides insurance cover at
marketing channels for better pricing all stages of the crop cycle including
for farmers and to encourage private post-harvest risks in specified
investment in developing efficient instances and available to the farmers
marketing infrastructure and value at very low rates of premium.
chain.
 Government provides total interest
 Existing 22,000 rural haats to be subvention up to 5 per cent (inclusive
developed and upgraded into Gramin of 3 per cent prompt repayment
Agricultural Markets (GrAMs). incentive) on short-term crop loans up
 Minimum Support Price (MSP) is to Rs. 3.00 lakh.
notified by the Government for certain  Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana
crops periodically. (PKVY) is being implemented with a
 Giving a major boost for the farmers' view to promote organic farming in the
income, the Government has recently country.
approved the increase in the MSP for  Mission Organic Farming in North-
Kharif crops for 2019-20 season. East- MoVCD (NE) for realizing the
 Procurement of oilseeds, pulses and potential of organic farming in the
cotton are undertaken by central North Eastern Region of the country.
agencies at MSP under  Allied Activities :
 Price Support Scheme (PSS) at the  'Har Medh Par Ped' launched during
request of the State Government 2016-17 to encourage tree plantation
concerned. on farmland along with crops/
cropping system.

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 National Bamboo Mission has been 2. EMPOWERING WOMEN FARMERS
announced in the Union Budget 2018- What is the status of role of women in
19 for value chain based holistic Agriculture?
development of this sector as a  Women's role in agriculture has been
supplement to farm income. verily vital in the production,
 Bee-Keeping has been promoted processing and distribution sector.
under Mission for Integrated  Domestically, women play an
Development of Horticulture important role in the management
(MIDH) to increase the productivity of and rearing of livestock and other
crops through pollination, and activities like fodder collection, post-
increase the honey production as an harvest activities and farm cleaning
additional income to the farmers.
activities.
 For dairy development, there are three  According to the 2011 Census, the
important schemes: National Dairy total number of female workers
Plan-1 (NDP-1), National Dairy engaged in agricultural activities in
Development Program (NPDD) and India stood at 65 per cent, with 30.3
Dairy Entrepreneurship per cent of the total cultivators and
Development Scheme. 42.6 per cent of total agricultural
 Foreseeing high potential in fisheries labourers being women.
sector, a Blue Revolution with multi  Furthermore, the Agriculture Census
dimensional activities mainly focusing conducted every five years by the
on fisheries production, both inland Department of Agriculture,
and marine is being implemented. Cooperation and Farmers Welfare
 Rashtriya Gokul Mission launched (DAC&FW), Ministry of Agriculture
in December 2014 for gene pool of and Farmers Welfare, established that
indigenous cattle and buffaloes. the 12.78 per cent of the female
 National Livestock Mission operational holdings in agriculture
launched in 2014-15 to ensure during the year 2010-11 have
intensive development of livestock increased to 13.78 per cent during
especially small livestock (sheep/goat, 2015-16.
poultry, etc.) along with adequate  This shows that women participation
availability of quality feed and fodder. in the organized agricultural sector is
increasing and therefore, support and
thrust on the part of the government

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 becomes quite necessary to empower bodies - the State, District, Block
them and provide them with further Farmer Advisory Committees, ATMA
opportunities to encourage their larger governing committees etc.
involvement.  Promoting Women Groups :
 What are the special provisions taken Women's groups, Cooperatives, Self
by GOI for empowering women Help Groups (SHGs) to be
farmers ? incorporated by the States for the

 Support for Women Food Security distribution of Certified Seeds (under

Groups (FSGs) : Women farmer the aegis of the National Mission on

groups are recognised under ATMA Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP)).

Cafeteria as a compulsory activity at  Integrated Scheme for Agricultural

Rs. 0.10 lakh per group/year for Marketing (ISAM): Women are
attaining food security at the domestic endowed with subsidies for storage
or the household level, by setting up infrastructure that includes a 33.33
of kitchen garden, promoting off-farm percent subsidy (on capital cost) for
activities with cattle (activities that women as compared to 25 per cent for
otherwise evade the GDP men.
computation).  Agricultural Insurance: Safeguarding
 Procurement of Agricultural coverage of women farmers along with
Machinery and Equipments a budget allocation and utilization in
(Subsidy Pattern) : Women farmers accordance with the population
can avail benefits in tandem with, or proportion.
over and above the benefits offered to  What are the other interventions by
men. For purchasing an essential GOI ?
agricultural equipment, say, tractor
 Being mindful of the crucial role that
(up to 20 PTO HP), women get
women play in agriculture industry,
additional benefits, subsidies and cost
the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
reduction, for instance, 35 percent of
Ministry established Indian Council of
the subsidy to the total cost, as
Agricultural Research, ICAR, a
compared with 25 percent of cost for
Central Institute for Women in
men.
Agriculture in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha
 Representation of Women Farmers : in the year 1996.
It is imperative for women farmers to
 The Institute has been undertaking
be included in the decision making
numerous studies on gender

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 implications in the agricultural sector ICAR has initiated the All India Co-
and developing women centred ordinated Research Project (AICRP).
technology.  Its Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) have
 The condition of women in the successfully trained about 3.1 lakh
unorganised farming sector is also women agriculturists and besides
being improved through various this, one female scientist in every
research projects of this Institute that Kendra has been made mandatory in
mainly cater to the provision of 668 KVKs across the country.
improved agricultural tools to women  There is also a provision under the
so as to reduce the toil they have to National Food Security Mission
put into farm operational activities. (NFSM) that provides training based
 It is also working to mobilise the Self- on cropping system to farmers
Help Groups with a view to increase including the SC, ST and women
the income generation of female farmers to generate awareness on
participants in agriculture and animal augmented technology for increasing
husbandry. crop production and yield.

 Technology has become a crucial part

of policy making when it comes to 3. E - NAM : GAME CHANGER IN
information dissemination and AGRICULTURAL MARKETING
creation of a far-reaching knowledge What is meant by e - NAM?
base.
 E-NAM or Electronic National
 The Institute develops softwares and
Agriculture Market is a pan - India
interfaces to facilitate mass media
trading portal launched in April 2016.
communication and carries out
 It is a trading portal for farm produce
outreach programmes for educating
which aims to create a unified
and empowering rural women.
national market for agricultural
 A gender knowledge portal, displaying commodities by integrating
all the relevant data and information
Agriculture Produce Market
related to women farmers has also
Committees (APMC).
been created.
 E-NAM is a device to create a national
 With the aim to fortify agricultural
network of mandis which can be
research and enhance agricultural
accessed online.
productivity to bolster farm income,

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 It seeks to influence the physical local mandi level through the NAM
infrastructure of the mandis through platform, thereby reducing their
an online trading portal. intermediation costs.

 It also enables buyers situated in What is the performance of e - NAM since

state or even outside the state to its launch from 2016?
participate in trading.  E-NAM is transforming the way India
 The main aim of e-NAM is to improve trades in farm produce and has roped
the marketing aspect of the in 585 mandis across the 16 states
agriculture sector with one license for and 2 Union territories, linking more
the entire state and with single point than 1,65,04,866 farmers, 1,25,167
levy. traders and 69,842 commission

 Through e-NAM an entire state agents.

becomes a market for sellers and the  E-NAM trades in 150 commodities,
market fragmentation within the same and goods worth Rs 52,173 crore have
state gets abolished. been traded so far.

 Working with e-NAM improves the  The portal is available in 8 languages

supply chain of commodities and like Hindi, English, Telugu, Odiya,
reduces wastages which can be seen Bangla, Tamil, Gujarati and Marathi.
in some states involve in online  Through interconnection of mandis,
trading. farmers have just been exposed to an
 e-NAM driving agricultural trade entirely new way of conducting
towards the remunerative prices for business which enabling them to get
farmers by plugging the trade higher returns, induce more
malpractices in mandis. transparency and use technology for

 While the farmer is the primary maximum benefits.

stakeholder, e-NAM also provides How e - NAM became a game changer?

traders, commission agents and  Many advantages of e-NAM which can
exporters better business change Indian agriculture trade sector
opportunities through a unified and for ever:
extensive marketplace.
 No middlemen involved in buying-
 Bulk buyers, processors, exporters selling of agri products; hence better
etc. benefited by being able to deal for farmers
participate directly in trading at the
 Less transaction cost

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  Single license valid across all chronically water stressed in some
connected mandis regions.

 Single point levy of all products  The annual utilizable water sources in

 Quality testing procedure introduced the country are estimated at 690

for buyers and sellers Billion Cubic Metre from surface

water and 447 BCM from
 These advantages of e-NAM
groundwater.
continuously attract the farmers to
trade their produce through this What are Micro irrigation technologies?

online portal.  Micro irrigation technologies mainly

 The higher registration of traders and sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation
APMCs with more transaction on the not only helps in water saving but
portal made it a big game changer in also in reduction in fertilizer usage,
agriculture trading sector. labour expenses and other inputs and

 In future NAM not only becomes the input costs.

big service provider to the farmers and  It enhances crop productivity and
traders but consumers will also improves soil health.
benefited by produce price stability  The saved water can be used for
and availability. extended coverage of area under
irrigation for a longer duration.

4. IRRIGATION TECHNIQUES TO GET  All these advantages will ultimately

PER DROP MORE CROP lead to environmental sustainability.

What is the status of irrigation in India?  Many research studies have shown

 According to NITI AAYOG, GOI that Micro irrigation systems can save

statistics, irrigation consumes 84 water up to 40 50 per cent over

percent of water and it is estimated conventional flood irrigation methods

that 52 percent of cropped areas are along with enhanced agricultural

without irrigation. productivity.

 The share of ground water sources for What is Pradhan Mantri Krishi

irrigation has been increased from Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) and its
current status?
28.7 percent to 62.4 percent in these
seven decades.  Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee
Yojana (PMKSY) has been launched
 Ground water sources are over
exploited in many regions and are

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 with the motto of providing 'Har Khet  The area covered under drip irrigation
Ko Paani'. is 5.75 Lakh Ha and that of sprinkler

 The scheme aims at providing end- to- irrigation is 5.83 Lakh Ha.

end solutions in irrigation supply  The other interventions such as the

chain viz., water resources, potential created for protective
distribution network, farm level irrigation is 1.30 Lakh Ha.
applications and improved water use
What is the impact of Micro Irrigation?
efficiency.
 Global agriculture System has
 Both Central and State Governments
conducted an impact study in the
promote this technology and in the FY
year 2014 on NMMI and the adoption
2015-16 the funding pattern under
of Ml and the following benefits were
PMKSY has been fixed as 50:50 per
reported.
cent between Central and State
 MI offers enhancement of crop
Governments.
productivity due to judicious use of
 The main objective of PMKSY is to
water and other inputs.
achieve convergence of investments in
 The benefits are noticed in terms of
irrigation sector at field level.
 Increase in irrigated area 8.41 per
 A Micro irrigation Fund (MIF) with an
cent from the same source of water.
initial corpus of Rs. 5000 crore was
 Crop productivity was increased in
allocated in the Union Budget 2017-
fruits and vegetables 42.3 per cent
18.
and 52.8 per cent respectively.
 This budget is to help the States to
 Reduction in irrigation cost by 20 per
mobilize additional resources for
cent -50 per cent with an average 32.3
increasing the coverage under Micro
per cent.
irrigation through special and
innovative initiatives by State  Reduction in energy consumption by

Governments. about 31 per cent.

 As per the data given in the official  Reduction in the use of chemical

website of PMKSY total area covered fertilizers by 7 per cent- 42 per cent

under Micro irrigation by the year with an average 28 per cent.

2018-19 is 11.58 Lakh Ha.  Overall Farmers income was increased

by 20 per cent-68 per cent with an
average increase of 48.5 per cent.

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 Benefit-cost ratio was greater than 5. INITIATIVES IN AGRICULTURAL
one across the states. SECTOR
 It also ensures additional benefits like What is the status of agricultural
non-exploitation of groundwater; production in India?
reduction in the cost of weeding and  As per Fourth Advance Estimates for
relief from water scarcity induced 2017-18, total Rabi Food grain
labour migration. production in the country is estimated
 Micro Irrigation methods reduce at 144.10 million tonnes which is
conveyance losses, evaporation, higher by 7.32 million tonnes than the
runoff, deep percolation losses. previous record production of rabi

 Another advantage of this technology food grain of 136.78 million tonnes

is that it will be functional with small achieved during 2016-17.

water wells also.  Total production of Rabi Rice during

 Due to focussed water application, the 2017-18 is estimated at record 15.41

overall efficiency of water in drip million tonnes.

irrigation and sprinkler irrigation are  Production of Wheat, estimated at

80-90 per cent and 50 -70 per cent record 99.70 million tonnes, is higher
respectively. by 1.19 million tonnes as compared to

 This is much higher than that of wheat production of 98.51 million

surface flooding (30 - 40 per cent). tonnes achieved during 2016-17.

 Water application efficiency was  Production of Rabi Nutri / Coarse

reported as 30 - 70 per cent for Cereals estimated at record 13.10

flooding, 60-80 per cent for sprinkler million tonnes is higher than the

and 90 per cent for drip irrigation. average production by 1.91 million
tonnes.
 Surface water moisture evaporation is
same for sprinkler and flooding (30-40  Total Rabi Pulses production during

per cent) whereas the same is only 20- 2017-18 is estimated at record 15.89

25 per cent in drip irrigation. million tonnes which is higher by 2.34

million tonnes than the previous
year‟s production of 13.55 million
tonnes.

 Total Rabi Oilseeds production in the

country during 2017-18 is estimated

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 at 10.31 million tonnes which is is being promoted. North East is
marginally higher by 0.55 million being developed as organic hub.
tonnes than the production of 9.76  A revised farmer friendly “Pradhan
million tonnes during 2016-17. Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)”
What are the new initiatives in the have been launched. The scheme
agricultural sector? covers various types of risks from pre-

 Initiating market reforms through the sowing to post harvest and the

State Governments by amending the farmers have to pay very nominal

agriculture marketing regime. premium.

 Encouraging contract farming through  Under “Har Medh Par Ped”, agro

the State Governments by forestry is being promoted for

promulgating of Model Contract supplementing farm income, increase

Farming Act. risk management and climate resilient

agriculture as an important
 22,000 Gramin Haats are to be
component of Integrated Farming
upgraded to work as centers of
Systems
aggregation and for direct purchase of
agricultural commodities from the  The Indian Forest Act, 1927 was

farmers. amended to exclude bamboo from the

definition of „trees‟. Henceforth
 Launch of e NAM initiative to provide
bamboo grown outside forest area will
farmers an electronic online trading
not be regulated under the provisions
platform.
of felling and transit rules.
 Implementation of flagship scheme of
 Launch of PM-Asha scheme which will
distribution of Soil Health Cards to
ensure MSP to farmers for oilseeds,
farmers so that the use of fertilizers
pulses and copra.
can be optimized. So far more than
15 crore Soil Health Cards have been  Giving a major boost for the farmers

distributed in two cycles. income, the Government has approved

the increase in the MSPs for all Kharif
 “Per drop more crop” initiative under
& Rabi crops for 2018-19 season at a
which drip/sprinkler irrigation is
level of at least 150 percent of the cost
being encouraged for optimal
of production.
utilization of water.
 Bee keeping has been promoted under
 “Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana
Mission for Integrated Development of
(PKVY)” under which organic farming
Horticulture (MIDH) to increase the

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 productivity of crops through  Foreseeing high potential in fisheries
pollination and increase the honey sector, a Blue Revolution with multi
production as an additional source of dimensional activities mainly focusing
income of farmers. on fisheries production, both inland

 Rashtriya Gokul Mission has been and marine is being implemented.

implemented to enhance milk  The National Mission for Sustainable

production and productivity of Agriculture (NMSA), on of the eight
bovines and to make milk production Missions under the PM‟s National
more remunerative to the farmers. Action Plan on Climate Change is

 National Livestock Mission has been anchored in the Ministry of

implemented to increase productivity Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

and genetic improvement of livestock.

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