NCDEX welcomes 16-point plan for agriculture sector

National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) on Saturday welcomed the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's 16-point agenda for the development of agriculture and the Government's goal of doubling farmers' income.

Vijay Kumar, MD and CEO, NCDEX said: "The village storage scheme by Self Help Groups (SHGs) shall play a crucial role in farm level warehousing and will help farmers in efficient post-harvest management. The Exchange has also taken note that the Government will provide viability gap funding for setting up such efficient warehouses at the block/taluka level."

"Further, the Exchange is pleased to note that the financing on Negotiable Warehousing Receipts (e-NWR) has crossed more than Rs. 6,0,00 crores and it will be integrated with National Agriculture Market (e-NAM). The announcements to provide fund allocation of Rs. 2.83 lakh crore to agriculture, irrigation and rural development will provide impetus in re-energizing the sector," he added.

Kumar also informed that NABARD's re-finance scheme backed with agriculture credit target being expanded to Rs. 15 lakh crore, will give stakeholders easy access to finance and it will boost Agri growth.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday proposed 16 action points focusing on farmer's income, horticulture sector, food storage, animal husbandry and blue economy.

Here are the 16 action points proposed by Sitharaman:

To promote storage infrastructure and reduce wastage of food grains Sitharaman proposed creation of warehouses through viability gap funding on a PPP mode at block level
To build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables, inclusive of milk, meat, Sitharaman said, “Indian Railways will set up Kisan Rail-through PPP arrangements.
To help improve value realization especially in North-East and tribal districts Krishi Udaan will be launched by the Ministry of Civil Aviation
Sitharaman aimed to eliminate Foot and Mouth disease, brucellosis in cattles and peste des petits ruminants (PPR) in sheep and goat by 2025 and to increase coverage of artificial insemination from 30 percent to 70 percent
Setting agriculture credit target of rupees 15 lakh crore for the year 2020-21, she stated that all eligible beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) will be covered under the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme.
For better marketing and export, Sitharaman proposed to support states which will one product one district scheme
Framework for development, management and conservation of marine fishery resources and promotion of algae, sea weed and cage culture that will assist in raising fish production to 200 lakh tonnes by 2022-23.
Government will involve youth in fishery extension through 3477 sagar mitras and 500 fish farmer producer organizations. She hopes to raise fishery export to rupees 1 lakh crore by 2024-25.
Sitharaman also proposed to encourage those states governments who undertake implementation of Model Agricultural Land Leasing Act, 2016; Model Agricultural Produce and livestock Marketing (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2017 and Model Agricultural produce and Livestock Contract Farming and services (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2018.
She also proposed to expand PM-KUSUM to 20 lakh farmers for setting up stand alone solar pumps and help another 15 lakh farmers solarise their grid connected pump sets
Sitharaman proposed to operationalize scheme to enable farmers to set up solar power generation capacity on their fallow/barren lands and to sell it to grid
The finance minister proposed integration of negotiable warehousing receipts (e-NWR) and National Agricultural Market (e-NAM).
Integrated farming systems for rainfed areas shall be expanded. Multi-tier cropping, bee keeping, solar pumps, solar energy production in non cropping season will be added
The portal on “Jaivik kheti” – online national organic products market will also be strengthened
Government is proposing comprehensive measures for one hundred water stressed districts.
Sitharaman further stressed to encourage balanced use of all kinds of fertilizers and Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF).