The Government’s agriculture schemes are “not disjointed” but linked at various stages of the farm sector, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh informed Parliament on Tuesday.

Agriculture is confronted with high price volatility and climate risk but adequate measures are in place. The overall crop production is on an increasing trend, he added.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Singh said, “The farmers’ welfare/supporting programmes and schemes are linked at various stages, including pre-production, production, harvesting, post-harvesting and marketing.

Various supporting programmes for farmers welfare have been provided by the government to cover the entire agriculture sector with a view to enhancing economics of production, marketing and improving farmers’ income, he said.

The government has taken several measures to increase institutional credit flow and bring down the interest rate on farm loans. Further, to provide better insurance cover to crops, the government has launched a crop insurance scheme under which claims for ₹16,967.92 crore were settled during Kharif 2017, he added.

On a separate query that if in more than 60 per cent of the markets agri-produce is sold below the support price, Singh replied, in the negative.

The price of agricultural produce is dependent on a variety of factors including demand-supply, climatic conditions, perishability and transport are factors. Quality plays an important role in the price of commodity and procurement under the minimum support price (MSP).

The price is usually low immediately after harvest due to increased supply in the market, and gradually picks up thereafter, he added.

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