A training programme for Capacity Development of Anganwadi Workers & Farm Women to achieve the national nutrition goals was organized by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) on 17th September 2020, as part of the 3rd Rashtriya Poshan Maah being celebrated in the month of September throughout the country. Around one lakh Poshan kits were also distributed among Anganwadi workers by Krishi Vigyan Kendras all over the country on the occasion of PM’s birthday on 17th September 2020.
Addressing the women farmer training programme, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar said that to achieve the goal of sustainable development, it is necessary to eradicate malnutrition, and to achieve this ICAR is taking innovative initiatives like Poshan Smart Gram and distribution of Poshan kits through more than 700 Krishi Vigyan Kendras across the country. He said after ensuring food security to its citizens, country is moving towards achieving the nutrition security goal.
Shri Tomar said that all children and mothers should have access to nutritious food and the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, ICAR, IFFCO and other organizations are continuously working in this direction.He said that since ancient times, there has been a tradition in our country that families maintain kitchen gardens and but with increasing materialism, the tradition of growing fruits and vegetables in our houses and courtyards has been forgotten.
The Minister appreciated that the Ministry of Women and Child Development is making efforts to ensure availability of nutritious food in Anganwadis by motivating them to plant in their kitchen/courtyard gardens. Shri Tomar said that the basic aim behind the concepts of PoshanVatika and PoshanThaali is to make sure that the poor families have easy access to nutritious meals. Shri Tomar expressed his happiness that all KVKs are taking part in the celebration of Poshan Maah with full commitment. To spread nutrition awareness among mothers, many small meetings are being regularly organised by lady workers and IFFCO with its pledge to join this campaign is providing resources to these workers.
Shri Tomar further added that under the supervision of 11 Agricultural Technology Application Research Institutes, 307 Poshan Smart Gram and 8,246 Poshan Vatikas have been established by KVKs. Technical evaluation related to nutrition has been done by 130 KVKs on 252 activities, benefiting 2,116 beneficiaries. He said 4,505 technical demonstration activities related to nutrition have been carried out benefitting 50,894 people. Among these technical demonstrations are 2,744 exhibitions on the PoshanVatika, 1,149 exhibitions are on value addition and 390 demonstrations on other nutrition related enterprises. These demonstration activities are proving beneficial in eliminating malnutrition in rural areas.
On the occasion of PM’s birthday, one lakh Poshan Kits were distributed among Anganwadi workers by KVKs across the country. These kits include different types of seeds, plants, planting material and awareness literature. With the help of these kits, a nutritious diet will be evolved by developing kitchen gardens in Anganwadi Centres. Shri Tomar said that this is a combined social effort to eliminate malnutrition from our country.
On this occasion, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Kailash Chaudhary, Director General of ICAR, Dr Trilochan Mohapatra and Deputy Director General Shri A.K.Singh, IFFCO chairman, Shri U.S. Awasthi, Officers and Employees and teams from all KVKs and Anganwadi Workers were present.
Sources https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1656384
Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Yojna, the responsibility of identifying the landholder farmer family eligible for benefit under the Scheme and uploading the data of the eligible beneficiaries on the PM-KISAN Portal is that of the States/UT Administrations. The total number of eligible beneficiaries enrolled/uploaded in the PM-KISAN portal as on 17-09-2020 is 11,07,62,287. The State-wise details of eligible beneficiaries uploaded in the PM-KISAN portal since 2019 till date is given at Annexure-I.
Under the Scheme, the States/UTs are required to set up Grievance Redressal Committees for looking into the grievances related to implementation of the scheme. No data of grievances received/disposed of by them is, however, maintained centrally.
This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in Rajya Sabha today.
Annexure -I
The State-wise details of eligible beneficiaries uploaded in the PM-KISAN portal
(As on 17-09-2020)
|
S.No |
State |
Total No. of SMF |
|
1 |
ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS |
17024 |
|
2 |
ANDHRA PRADESH |
5695864 |
|
3 |
ARUNACHAL PRADESH |
98169 |
|
4 |
ASSAM |
3120342 |
|
5 |
BIHAR |
7572620 |
|
6 |
CHANDIGARH |
462 |
|
7 |
CHHATTISGARH |
3007716 |
|
8 |
DELHI |
15651 |
|
9 |
GOA |
10350 |
|
10 |
GUJARAT |
6037282 |
|
11 |
HARYANA |
1859080 |
|
12 |
HIMACHAL PRADESH |
935046 |
|
13 |
JAMMU AND KASHMIR |
1147160 |
|
14 |
JHARKHAND |
2663406 |
|
15 |
KARNATAKA |
5409628 |
|
16 |
KERALA |
3502261 |
|
17 |
LADAKH |
14997 |
|
18 |
LAKSHADWEEP |
1982 |
|
19 |
MADHYA PRADESH |
8158150 |
|
20 |
MAHARASHTRA |
11014738 |
|
21 |
MANIPUR |
573095 |
|
22 |
MEGHALAYA |
177220 |
|
23 |
MIZORAM |
151729 |
|
24 |
NAGALAND |
209425 |
|
25 |
ODISHA |
4047444 |
|
26 |
PUDUCHERRY |
10926 |
|
27 |
PUNJAB |
2373658 |
|
28 |
RAJASTHAN |
7149464 |
|
29 |
SIKKIM |
12902 |
|
30 |
TAMIL NADU |
4863193 |
|
31 |
TELANGANA |
3863211 |
|
32 |
THE DADRA AND NAGAR HAVELI AND DAMAN AND DIU |
14558 |
|
33 |
TRIPURA |
220464 |
|
34 |
UTTAR PRADESH |
25952664 |
|
35 |
UTTARAKHAND |
860406 |
|
36 |
WEST BENGAL |
0 |
|
|
Grand Total : |
110762287 |
Sources https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1656149
The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) under Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), GOI is the apex organisation to promote Agricultural Research and Development in the country. National Agricultural Research System (NARS) under DARE/ICAR consists of 103 Agricultural Research Institutes, 75 Agricultural Universities, 82 All India Coordinated Research Projects/Network Projects and 11 Agriculture Technology Application Research Institutes ably supported by a network of 721 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) established at the district level and mandated with technology assessment and demonstration for wider application and capacity development of the farmers. The organisation has played crucial role as a hub for knowledge and technology resources to promote agricultural research, education, frontline extension and capacity development activities in the country, and to make the country self- reliant in agriculture sector.
To accelerate the development of new and improved crops, improved crop health and sustainable farming practices Nanaji Deshmukh Plant Phenomics Center for research was established at IARI, Pusa, New Delhi. Towards creation of new state of art infrastructure, Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa, Bihar was upgraded to Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University. Two new institutes on the lines of Indian Agricultural Research Institute - Indian Agricultural Research Institute - Jharkhand and Indian Agricultural Research Institute - Assam were established. New colleges were started under Central Agricultural University, Imphal and Rani Laxmibai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi. Mahatma Gandhi Integrated Farming System Research Institute was established at Motihari, Bihar to provide holistic solution for the farming system in the flood prone areas. Besides these, 4 new Regional Research Stations of Horticultural Institutes were opened which include; ICAR-CISH, Lucknow, at Malda (WB), ICAR-CITH, Srinagar at Dirang (Arunachal Pradesh), ICAR-DFR, Pune at Kadiyam (Andhra Pradesh) and ICAR-CCRI, Nagpur at Viswanath Chariali (Assam). To improve the outreach of the ICAR among farming community of the country, 51 new Krishi Vigyan Kendras were established during the last 3 years taking the total number of KVKs upto 721. The research programmes of ICAR/NARS are regularly strengthened, re-structured, re-oriented and prioritized with thrust on enhancing production and productivity for optimum and sustainable utilization of resources through proven technological interventions to realize the full production potential in all areas of agriculture and to address the critical research gaps.
This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in Rajya Sabha today.
Sources https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1656147
Agriculture Marketing being a state subject, wholesale marketing of agriculture produce is generally carried out through a network of regulated Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) markets promoted by respective Government of State/ Union Territories (UTs) under their respective State/UT APMC Act. Central Government plays a supportive role in agricultural marketing. Small and Marginal farmers sometime face difficulty in direct access to markets due to varied reasons like small amount of marketable surplus, distant markets and stringent regulatory provisions under State APMC Acts limiting direct purchase of produce by end user from farmers from farm gate and local godowns/warehouses. The lack of development of integrated supply chain and distant markets in some areas give rise to intermediation whereby intermediaries buy from farmers thus sometimes affecting farmers share in consumer price.
In order to improve and facilitate better market accessibility of farmers to markets , Government of India has been constantly persuading State/UT governments to adopt market reforms to promote alternative marketing channels such as private markets , direct marketing, contract farming, development of Gramin Agriculture Market (GrAMs) closer to farm gates as well as development of integrated supply chain infrastructure. Model APMC Act was also promoted.
The Government of India has notified an Ordinance namely “The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020” on 5th June, 2020 to promote freedom of choice of trade with farmers while promoting barrier-free inter-state and intra-state trade in farmers produce.
The Government also notified an Ordinance namely “The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020 on 5th June, 2020 to provide for a national framework on farming agreements that protects and empowers farmers to engage with agri-business firms, processors, wholesalers, exporters or large retailers for farm services and sale of future farming produce at a mutually agreed remunerative price framework in a fair and transparent manner.
Further, in pursuance to the announcement of Atmnirbhar Bharat Abhiyan Package, the Government has approved under Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of Rs. 1,00,000 Crore to provide a medium-long term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post-harvest market infrastructure including warehousing facility and community farming assets through incentives and financial support.
Government of India has also been promoting storage, cold storage, cold chain and other marketing and value addition infrastructure through its scheme of Agriculture Marketing Infrastructure (AMI), Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana-Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR) etc.
The Government has implemented National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) scheme, an online virtual trading platform, to provide farmers with opportunity to directly sell their produce at remunerative prices through competitive online bidding system. So far, 1000 wholesale regulated markets across 18 States and 3 Union Territories (UTs) have been integrated with e-NAM platform. Tradable parameters for 175 commodities have been promoted for trade in e-NAM platform.
As on 31.08.2020, a total of 1.67 crore farmers, 1.44 lakh traders and 83,958 commission agents and 1722 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) have been registered on e-NAM platform. A total trade value of Rs. 1,04,313 crore has been recorded on e-NAM platform.
This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in Rajya Sabha today.
Sources https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1656145
Assistance is provided under different schemes by the Government for promoting organic farming in the country –
1. Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY): The scheme promotes cluster based organic farming with PGS certification. Cluster formation, training, certification and marketing are supported under the scheme. Assistance of Rs.50,000 per ha /3 years is provided out of which 62% i.e., Rs. 31,000 is given as incentive to a farmer towards organic inputs.
2. Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER): The scheme promotes 3rd party certified organic farming of niche crops of north east region through Farmers Producer organizations (FPOs) with focus on exports. Farmers are given assistance of Rs 25000/ha/3 years for organic inputs including organic manure and biofertilisers etc. Support for formation of FPOs, capacity building, post-harvest infrastructure up to Rs 2 crores are also provided in the scheme.
3. Capital investment Subsidy Scheme (CISS) under Soil Health Management Scheme: 100% assistance is provided to State Government / Government agencies for setting up of mechanized fruit/vegetable market waste/ Agro waste compost production unit up to a maximum limit of Rs.190.00 Lakh /unit (3000 Total Per Annum TPA capacity). Similarly, for individuals/ private agencies assistance up to 33% of cost limit to Rs 63 lakh/unit as capital investment is provided.
4. National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP): Financial assistance@ 50% subsidy to the tune of Rs. 300/- per ha is being provided for different components including bio-fertilizers, supply of Rhizobium culture/Phosphate Solubilising Bacteria (PSB)/Zinc Solubilising Bacteria (ZSB)/ Azatobacter/ Mycorrhiza and vermi compost.
5. National Food Security Mission (NFSM): Financial assistance is provided for promotion of Bio-Fertilizer (Rhizobium/PSB) @50% of the cost limited to Rs.300 per ha.
Cultivable land area under organic farming has more than doubled from 11.83 lakh ha in 2014 to 29.17 lakh ha in 2020 due to the focused efforts of the Government. Over the years, the organic promotion activities led to development of State specific organic brands, increased domestic supply and exports of organic produce from NER. Taking cue from the success of the organic initiatives, a target of 20 lakh ha additional area coverage by 2024 is envisaged in the vision document. Awareness programmes, availability of adequate post- harvest infrastructure, marketing facilities, premium price for the organic produce etc., would certainly motivate farmers towards organic farming thereby increasing organic coverage in the country.
As per International resource data from Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) Statistics 2020, India stands at 9th position in terms of certified agricultural land with 1.94 million ha(2018-19). The comparative data in regard to organic cultivation with other countries viz. China, Brazil and the US is as:-
|
Sr. No. |
State |
Position |
Area under organic certification(in million ha.) |
|
1 |
China |
3rd |
3.14 |
|
2 |
USA |
7th |
2.02 |
|
3 |
India |
9th |
1.94 |
|
4 |
Brazil |
12th |
1.18 |
Promotion of natural farming under Bharatiya Prakritik Krishi Padhati (BPKP) of PKVY has been initiated to encourage use of natural on-farm inputs for chemical free farming. Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have taken up 1 lakh ha and 0.8 lakh ha area respectively for promotion of natural farming under BPKP. Similarly, continuous area certification and support for individual farmers for certification have also been initiated during 2020-21 to bring in default organic areas and willing individual farmers under the fold of organic farming
State agencies, Primary Agricultural Credit Societies, Farmer Producer Organisations, entrepreneurs etc., can avail loans for setting up of Post-harvest infrastructure for value addition to organic produce under 1.00 lakh cr Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in Rajya Sabha today.
Sources https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1656146
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