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Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday asked State governments to focus on creating a database of their respective States using the federated farmer database being prepared by the Centre and allow linkage to State land record database.
Speaking at the Chief Ministers conference virtually, he said that Ministry has created a database of 5.5 crore farmers and this will be increased to 8 crore farmers by December, with the help of States.
National farmer database
A national farmer database is being created taking data from existing schemes such as PM-KISAN, soil health card and PM FasalBimaYojana and aims to have connectivity to State land records database.
He emphasised that the Centre and State governments must work together for agriculture to give a boost to the economy.
The Agriculture Minister also said that with the establishment of Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, FPOs, PACS, Mandis and start-ups will get loans easily. Talking about the Oil Palm Mission, he added that India Council of Agricultural Research has conducted a study on the areas where oil palm cultivation can be expanded.
The Pradhan MantriKisanSammanNidhi and the saturation of Kisan Credit Card for small and marginal farmers was also discussed. Upgradation of the beneficiary database was emphasised. There was also a discussion on exports of agriculture products and the role of APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority) in increasing agriculture exports. APEDA will facilitate cluster-centric capacity building exercise for State officials, FPOs, farmers, start-ups etc, the official statement added. Meanwhile, Union Minister forCommerce and Industry, Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs and Textiles, PiyushGoyal said in his address that with an increase in agriculture exports, India is emerging as a trusted export partner and there is further scope for improvement of agri-exports.
Goyal emphasised that the infrastructure needs to be strengthened for storage and warehousing.
Two-day conference
The first day of the two-day conference saw the participation of Chief Ministers and Agriculture Ministers of States such as Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Goa, the official statement added.
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