Tomar: Govt committed to support small, marginal farmers

Jammu, Sep 10 (UNI) Union Minister for Agriculture, Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday said that farmers of Jammu and Kashmir are showing extraordinary enthusiasm for availing benefits of the government’s schemes.
The Minister along with Ministers of State for Agriculture, Shobha Karandlaje and Kailash Choudhary visited Jammu and took stock of agriculture and horticulture related activities in the region as part of the ongoing public outreach initiatives of the Centre Government.
Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Farooq Khan and Principal Secretary, Agriculture and Horticulture, Navin K Choudhary also accompanied the team.
During an event organised at village Maralian, in R S Pura sub-division, the agriculture minister expressed delight and said, “farmers of J&K are showing extraordinary enthusiasm for availing benefits of the government’s schemes”.
“Around 85 percent of farmers of India have land holding of less than two hectares”, the minister said and added that it is by strengthening these farmers that the nation can truly prosper.
He stressed that in order to double the farmer’s income, they need to shift from traditional methods and opt for modernisation and diversification of crops and laid impetus on maintaining quality to match global standards.
The Minister informed that the Prime Minister is working towards giving a boost to agriculture and allied sectors, so as to ensure greater exports of exceptional quality.
He lauded the Government for implementing “200 out of 201” recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee and highlighted that “the most significant recommendation to be accepted has been to ensure that farmers get at least 50 percent profit over their investment.”
“Some crops are even earning a profit of about 100 percent,” he added.
Detailing the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, the Minister informed that the Centre Government has already disbursed Rs 1,58,000 crore to more than 11 crore farmers through the scheme.
More than 17 hundred farmers of J&K have also received an amount of Rs 6 thousand per year under the scheme, the minister said.
An exhibition of agriculture implements and horticulture products of districts like Poonch, Rajouri, Doda, Kathua and others was also organized at the venue.
The visiting ministers also inaugurated one high density plantation at Maralian by planting mango saplings at the site.

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