On the International Year of Millets (2023), which declared by the United Nations after a proposal by India, PM Modi said that its international identity was to open a gateway to the global market for Indian farmers. PM Modi on Friday virtually addressed the post-budget webinar on ‘Agriculture and Cooperatives’ in which he highlighted the importance given to the agricultural sector in the Union Budget 2023-24 as well as budgets of the past 8-9 years.
PM Modi took a shot at the previous regime, claiming that all budgets announced during the Modi 1.0 and 2.0 governments geared towards ‘Gaon, Gareeb, and Kisan.’ “The agricultural budget, which was less than 25,000 crore in 2014, has increased to more than 1,25,000 crore today,” he said.
While pointing out India’s foreign dependence on food security, PM Modi noted that for a long time since independence, “India’s agricultural sector remained distressed.”
He highlighted how India’s farmers transformed the situation by not only making the nation ‘atmanirbhar’ (self-sufficient) but also capable of exporting food grains. “Today India is exporting many types of agricultural products”, the PM said as he shed light on the efforts of the government to make domestic and international markets accessible to the farmers.
During his speech, he praised the announcement of the PM PRANAM Yojana and Gobardhan Yojana, as well as the government’s efforts to promote natural farming and reduce chemical-based farming.
PM Modi went on to say that India’s goal of self-sufficiency or export should not limited to rice or wheat and that various decisions made in the budget to promote the agricultural sector so that the nation becomes ‘atmanirbhar’ and the money used for imports can reach the farmers.
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“The goal of complete development cannot achieved until the challenges related to the agriculture sector eliminated. Private innovation and investment are avoiding this sector, resulting in low participation of India’s youth in the agricultural sector compared to others that are experiencing active participation and growth. “Several announcements have made in this year’s budget to fill this void,” Prime Minister Modi said.
“A new revolution is taking place in India’s cooperative sector,” Prime Minister Modi said.
“Fish production in the country has increased by about 70 lakh metric tonnes in the last 8-9 years,” PM Modi said, shifting the focus to the fisheries sector. a new sub-component announced under the PM Matsya Sampada Yojana for 6000 crores that will benefit both the fisheries value chain and the market.”
This fiscal’s proposed budgetary allocation for the ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare, including agricultural education and research, is approximately Rs.1.25 lakh crore. This includes a provision of Rs. 60,000 crores for the Modi government’s PM-Kisan program. Meanwhile, the agricultural loan target for the livestock, dairy, and fisheries sectors have raised to 20 lakh crore.
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