On April 16, 2020 The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar chaired the National Conference on Kharif crops 2020 by video conference & stated that all states should aim to achieve the kharif target and also the doubling of farmers’ income should be taken up in mission mode. DAC (The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing ) & FW (Family Welfare) secretaries and ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research ) and also officers from state governments participated.
- The main aim of the conference was to discuss various issues & to list the steps with the states on the preparedness for Kharif cultivation due to the lockdown situation.
Key Points
i.Assurance is made to the States that the Centre will remove the difficulties faced by them as Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has ensured that “Goan, Garib aur Kisan” (Village, Poor and Farmers) will not suffer during the crisis.
ii.Encouraged to explain 2 schemes namely, Prime Minister (PM) Fasal Bima Yojana and Soil Health Card scheme, to each farmer & insisted on the use of e-NAM guidelines were framed for the e-Nam initiative to reduce crowd at mandis and help farmers sell their produce.
iii.The states were called upon to implement the home ministry’s exemptions & relaxations for the Agriculture sector while ensuring social distancing and social responsibility norms.
iv.In regard to the rabi crops, it has been decided that all states will ensure procurement at village/block levels as the farmers are not allowed to move out of block due lockdown position & all states are taking steps to buy direct sales, crop products from farmers.
v.Advisory Guidelines have been issued to all the States and relaxation is given for movement of trucks, vehicles loaded with seeds and fertilizers to ensure timely availability of such inputs at village/block levels across the country.
vi.The State Action Plan (SAP) format for advance planning and implementation of the National Food & Nutritional Security Mission (NF & NSM) has been simplified and reduced about 1 page so that states can prepare SAPs and then submit them to the Government after the approval of the competent authority.
vii.Under the PM-AASHA scheme the Minimum Support Price (MSP) will be fixed at a level at least 2 times the cost of production also, implementation of “ Per drop more crop” being done under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana(PMKSY)
Food grain production target at record 298.0 million tonnes for 2020-21 crop year
The target of food grains production for FY 2020-21 has been fixed at 298.0 million tonnes, whereas in FY 2019-20 it was anticipated to be about 292 million tonnes against the expected 291.10 million tonnes mainly due to enhancement of area coverage and productivity of various crops.
What are Kharif & Rabi crops?
Kharif crops or monsoon crops is grown in the monsoon or rainy season, eg: rice, maize etc.,. Rabi crops or winter crops is grown in the winter season, eg: wheat, gram etc.,
