Farm production rose, agricultural exports touched record Rs 3 lakh cr in 2020-21 crop year: President Kovind

New Delhi.President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday said the country’s farm
production and procurement increased during 2020-21 crop year despite the
pandemic and agricultural exports reached a record level of Rs 3 lakh crore
during the same period. In his address to the joint sitting of both Houses of
Parliament at the start of the Budget session, Kovind said the government is
focusing on making the country self-sufiicient in edible oils besides making
special exports to promote organic farming, natural farming and crop
diversification.
“My government is working continuously to empower the farmers and the
rural economy of the country… I would like to give maximum credit to the
small farmers of the country for this consistent success and strengthening of
the agriculture sector,” he said

Highlighting achievements of the Modi government in the farm sector, the
President said despite the pandemic, farmers produced more than 30 crore
tonnes of food grains and 33 crore tonnes of horticulture produce in 2020-21
crop year (July-June).

The government made record procurement with purchase of 433 lakh tonnes
of wheat during the 2021-22 rabi marketing year (April-March) bene�ting
about 50 lakh farmers.
A record quantity of about 900 lakh tonnes of paddy was procured during the
2020-21 kharif marketing (October-September), bene�tting 1.30 crore farmers,
he added.
“Our agriculture exports have also reached a record level due to the e�orts of
the government. Agricultural exports registered a growth of more than 25 per
cent in 2020-21, and have reached nearly Rs 3 lakh crore,” Kovind said.
He was referring to crop year 2020-21.
Domestic honey production increased by 55 per cent 1.25 lakh tonne in
2020-21 crop year from over 2014-15 due to incentives provided by the
government to boost production, he said, adding that honey production are
important means of generation new sources of income for farmers.
Honey export has also grown by more than 102 per cent as compared to
2014-15, he added.
To ensure farmers get access to the right market and remunerative prices, the
President said the government has endeavoured to open new avenues of
prosperity for the farmers by launching Kisan Rail Seva.

Stating that small farmers who constitute 80 per cent of the farmercommunity have always been central to the government, the President said
the government has provided Rs 1.80 lakh crore under the PM-KISAN scheme
to more than 11 crore farmer families.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, a
financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year is provided to the eligible farmer
families, payable in three equal installments of Rs 2,000.
“With this investment, the agriculture sector is witnessing major
transformations today,” he said, and small farmers of the country have also
benefited from the new changes in the crop insurance scheme.
More than Rs 1 lakh crore have been given as compensation to about 8 crore
farmers since these changes were introduced, he added.
Mentioning that the government is also making investments at an
unprecedented level for developing infrastructure required near farmlands,
Kovind said thousands of projects have been approved under the Agriculture
Infrastructure Fund having a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore.
In order to ensure self-sufiiciency in edible oil, the Modi-government has also
launched the National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm with an outlay of Rs
11,000 crore. The government is also making special e�orts like organic
farming, natural farming and crop diversification, he added.
Further, the government is working for rain water conservation. Special
campaigns are being implemented for creation of rain water harvesting
infrastructure and restoration of traditional water sources in the country.
The President said 64 lakh hectares of land with irrigation facilities has also
been developed in the country with the help of various projects under the
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana and Atal Bhu-jal Yojana.
The government has also taken forward the plans for interlinking of rivers.
Recently, the Ken-Betwa link project to be completed at a cost of Rupees
45,000 crore has also been approved. This project will be helpful in ending the
water crisis in Bundelkhand.
That apart, Kovind shared that the United Nations has declared 2023 as the
International Year of Millets and the government willl celebrate next year on
a large scale with farmers, Self-Help Groups, FPOs, food industry and the
common citizen. PTI