• India
  • Sep 22
  • Mathew Gregory

National Conference for Rabi Campaign 2020

National conferences are held before every season to take stock of the preparedness and ensure timely availability of seed, fertilizers and other inputs. This time good rainfall has occurred and water reservoirs are full which offers good opportunity. The conference set a target of 301 million tons of food grains production for 2020-21 which includes 119.60, 108.00, 5.00, 9.57, 29.00 and 47.80 million tons of rice, wheat, Jowar, bajra, maize and coarse cereals, respectively.

Important milestones

    • Record food grain production of 296.65 million tons in 2019-20 under unfavourable conditions imposed by Covid-19

    • Pulses and oilseed production is expected to be at 23.15 and 33.42 million tons, respectively

    • Production of cotton is being estimated at 354.91 lakh bales with which India is set to rise to the first position in the world

    • Kharif sowing during this year up to 11-09-2020 has been 1113 lakh hectares which is 46 lakh hectares more than normal sowing area.

Proactive steps taken by government

    • Agricultural Infrastructure Fund (AIF) scheme worth Rs 1 lakh crore for 4 years has been launched for creating facilities for cold storage, warehouse, packaging, ripening & waxing plants by agri-entrepreneurs, farmers’ association and local government agencies.

    • Tentative allocation to the states have made on the basis of total value of output of the state from agriculture and allied sectors.

    • A 3% interest subvention will be given on bank interest, making loan with effective interest rate in the range of 5.0 to 5.5%.

    • Formation of 10,000 Farmers Producer Organisations (FPOs) is another such step to organize farmers in aggregation and marketing for higher returns which will be registered under company or cooperative act and 15% will be constituted in Aspirational and Notified Tribal Areas.

    • Two bills passed in parliament The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Bill 2020 and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill 2020, will give a boost to farmers engaged in agriculture and allied activities.

    • Government of India has set the target of covering 100 lakh hectares in five years under micro-irrigation.

    • A dedicated Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF) of Rs. 5,000 crores have been created with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for expanding coverage of micro irrigation.

    • In the year 2019-20, about 11 lakh farmers have benefited by the adoption of drip and sprinkler irrigation system.

    • During the last five years, an area of 47.92 lakh hectare has been covered under micro irrigation in the country which includes 11.72 lakh ha for the year 2019-20 which is a significant achievement.

    • To reduce import of edible oils, great emphasis is being laid on production of oilseeds and oil palm plantation indigenously. This Rabi Focus is on Mustard under oilseeds and the target for production of mustard alone has been raised from 92 to 125 lakh tons.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants. The views expressed here are personal.)

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