Cash-starved farmers have finally a reason to cheer up amid the Covid-19 pandemic. In a big boost to the agriculture sector, a new Central Sector Scheme of financing facility was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday. This scheme with a duration of 10 years from FY2020 to FY2029, was launched under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of Rs 1 lakh crore to support farmers, PACS, FPOs, Agrientrepreneurs, etc, to build community farming assets and post-harvest agriculture infrastructure which will enable farmers to get higher value for their produce.
The farmers will now also be able to store and sell their produce at higher prices, reduce wastage, increase processing and value addition. The memorandum of agreement with the Agriculture Ministry has already been signed by 11 of the 12 public sector banks.
The sixth installment of Rs 17,100 crore to more than 8.55 crore farmer beneficiaries was launched under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme. This scheme was launched virtually through a video conference in which the PM, along with Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and senior ministry officials, interacted with 3 Primary Agriculture Credit Societies from Karnataka, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh. The virtual program was attended by lakhs of farmers, FPOs, PACs, cooperatives and citizens from across theountry. These societies are among the initial beneficiaries of the scheme and informed PM Modi about their plans to build godowns, setup grading and sorting units.
While PM-KISAN is an ongoing scheme being implemented since 2018, the Agri-Infra fund was launched by the Union Cabinet last month as part of the over Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package in response to Covid-19.