On Friday, the post-budget webinar on 'Agriculture and Cooperatives' featured remarks from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The government is seeking ideas and suggestions for the successful implementation of the initiatives outlined in the Union Budget 2023 during the second of a series of 12 post-budget webcasts.
“Every Budget in recent years has been called a budget for Gaon, Gareeb, and Kisan”, Modi said.
The latter emphasized that the nation's reliance on the outside world for food security was due to the fact that India's agricultural sector has been in trouble for a considerable amount of time since independence. He said that India's farmers have changed the situation by enabling the country to sell food grains as well as making it 'atmanirbhar' (self-sufficient).
PM Modi highlighted the efforts of the government to open up domestic and international markets for farmers by stating that "Today India is exporting many kinds of agricultural products." He added that when it comes to exports or self-sufficiency, India's aim should not be restricted to rice or wheat. The Prime Minister highlighted the imports in the farming sector by citing expenditures of Rs 17,000 crores for the import of pulses in 2021–2022; Rs 25,000 crores for the import of value-added food products; and Rs 1.5 lakh crores for the import of edible oils in 2021–2022 as examples.
The total value of all agricultural goods, he continued, was somewhere around Rs 2 lakh crores. The Prime Minister emphasized that various decisions are being continuously made in the budget to promote the agricultural sector so that the country becomes 'atmanirbhar' and the money used for imports can reach our farmers. He cited the rise in MSP, support for the output of pulses, expansion of food processing parks, and efforts to achieve total edible oil self-sufficiency as examples.
He emphasized that industries that did not previously have cooperatives, like dairy and fisheries, will now significantly help farmers. The Prime Minister revealed that the fish output in the nation has grown by about 70 lakh metric tonnes in the last 8 to 9 years, shedding light on the enormous possibilities in fisheries for our farmers. He also discussed a new sub-component that the PM Matsya Sampada Yojana has revealed at a cost of 6000 crores, which will help the market and the value chain for fisheries.
The Prime Minister discussed the PM Pranam Yojana and Gobardhan Yojana, two government initiatives aimed at boosting organic farming and reducing chemical-based farming, as he concluded his speech.
