Recent government Scheme of Agriculture

1. Mera Gaon, Mera Gaurav (government Scheme of Agriculture)

• This scheme is being launched involving agricultural experts of agricultural universities and ICAR institutes for effective and deeper reach of scientific farming to the villages.

• A group of experts will be associated with one particular village to create awareness and adoption of new technologies including farm investment, loans, availability of inputs and marketing.

• All the scientists from ICAR and agricultural universities will participate in this initiative.

2. Krishi Dak (government Scheme of Agriculture)

• IARI initiated this novel scheme in 20 districts in which postmen supplied seeds of improved varieties of crops to the farmers in far-flung areas.

• Owing to its success and popularity, this scheme is being extended in 100 districts of 14 states with the association of Krishi Vigyan Kendras.

• This will provide improved seed to farmers at their doorstep.

3. Soil Health Card (government Scheme of Agriculture)

• Soil Health Cards are necessary to ensure that only requisite nutrients are applied in the soil in a balanced manner to enhance productivity of specific crops in a sustainable manner.

• Values on soil parameters such as pH, EC, N, P, K, S, Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu & B.

• Recommendation on appropriate dosage of fertilizer application based on test values and requirement of crop, use of organic manures and soil amendments to acidic/alkaline/sodic soils.

4. Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojna (PKVY) (government Scheme of Agriculture)

• Aim of the project is to maximize the utilization of natural resources through eco-friendly cultivation.

• Organic farming is a method of farming system which primarily aimed at cultivating the land and raising crops in such a way, as to keep the soil alive and in good health by use of organic wastes (crop, animal and farm wastes, aquatic wastes) and other biological materials along with beneficial microbes (bio-fertilizers) to release nutrients to crops for increased sustainable production in an eco friendly pollution free environment.

5. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) (government Scheme of Agriculture)

• GOI had announced ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana’ with the motto of water to every farm ‘Har Khet Ko Paani’. The scheme is aimed at irrigating the field of every farmer and improving water use efficiency to provide “Per Drop More Crop’’.

6. Promotion of National Market through Agri Tech Infrastructure Fund (ATIF) (government Scheme of Agriculture)

• Central Sector Scheme for Promotion of National Agricultural Market through Agri-Tech Infrastructure Fund (ATIF) for Rs.200 crores to be implemented during 2014-15 to 2016-17.

• The Scheme envisages initiation of e-marketing platform at the national level and will support creation of infrastructure to enable e-marketing in 642 regulated markets across the country.

• For creation of a National Market, a common platform across all States is necessary. It is, therefore, proposed that a Service Provider be engaged centrally who would build, operate and maintain the e-platform on PPP (Build, Own, Operate, Transfer – BOOT) model. This platform would be customized/configured to address the variations in different states.

• As an initiative of deregulation, States have been advised by the Government of India to bring fruits and vegetables out of the ambit of APMC Act. In pursuance of this advisory, 12 States have, so far, either de-regulated the marketing of fruits and vegetables or have exempted from levying of market fee.

7. Agriculture credit to RIDF (government Scheme of Agriculture)

• The RIDF was set up by the Government in 1995-96 for financing ongoing rural Infrastructure projects. The Fund is maintained by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). Domestic commercial banks contribute to the Fund to the extent of their shortfall in stipulated priority sector lending to agriculture. The main objective of the Fund is to provide loans to State Governments and Stateowned corporations to enable them to complete ongoing rural infrastructure projects.

8. MUDRA Bank (government Scheme of Agriculture)

• The Finance Minister has proposed to create a Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank, with a corpus of Rs. 20,000 crore, and credit guarantee corpus of 3,000 crore, which will refinance Micro-Finance Institutions through a Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana.

• Priority will be given to SC/ST enterprises in lending. MUDRA Bank will operate through regional level financing institutions who in turn will connect with last mile lenders such as MFIs, Small Banks, Primary Credit Cooperative Societies, Self Help Groups (SHGs), NBFC (other than MFI) and other lending institutions.

• MUDRA Bank will refinance Micro-Finance Institutions through a Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY). In lending, priority will be given to SC/ST enterprises. These measures will greatly increase the confidence of young, educated or skilled workers who would not be able to aspire to become first generation entrepreneurs; existing small businesses, too will be able to expand their activities. Since the MUDRA Bank will be set up through an enactment of law and it will take some time.

9. Rashtriya Gokul Mission (government Scheme of Agriculture)

• India ranks first among the world’s milk producing Nations.

• India has the largest bovine population in the world. The bovine genetic resource of India is represented by 37 well recognized indigenous Breeds of cattle and 13 breeds of buffaloes. Indigenous bovines are robust and resilient and are particularly suited to the climate and environment of their respective breeding tracts.

• Rashtriya Gokul Mission, a project under the National Program for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development is being launched with the objective of conserving and developing indigenous breeds in a focused and scientific manner.

• The potential to enhance the productivity of the indigenous breeds through professional farm management and superior nutrition, as well as gradation of indigenous bovine germplasm will be done with an outlay of Rs.550 crores.

10. Participatory Guarantee System (government Scheme of Agriculture)

• Participatory Guarantee System is a process of certifying organic products, which ensures agriculture production process in accordance with the standards laid down for organic products, and that desired quality has been maintained.

• This is exhibited in the form of documented logo or a statement. In order to promote domestic organic market growth and also to enable small and marginal farmers to have easy access to organic certification, a decentralised organic farming certification system called Participatory Guarantee System – India (PGS-India) is implemented by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. It is cost-effective, farmerfriendly and hassle-free. It is outside the framework of third party system of certification, which is a pre-requisite to enter export market of organic produce.

• It is a quality assurance initiative that is locally relevant with active participation of stakeholders, including producers/farmers, traders and consumers in certification system. This group certification system is supported by Paramaparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) scheme. It, in a way, supports domestic demand for organic produce and trains farmers in document management and adherence to other requirements of certification process and prepares them to opt for third party certification if they wishes to go for export.

11. Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (government Scheme of Agriculture)

• The main motto of this new crop insurance scheme is to provide a more efficient insurance support to the farmers of the country and become a financial support to thousands of farmers.

• There will be a uniform premium of only 2% to be paid by farmers for all Kharif crops and 1.5% for all Rabi crops. In case of annual commercial and horticultural crops, the premium to be paid by farmers will be only 5%. The premium rates to be paid by farmers are very low and balance premium will be paid by the Government to provide full insured amount to the farmers against crop loss on account of natural calamities.

• There is no upper limit on Government subsidy. Even if balance premium is 90%, it will be borne by the Government.

• Earlier, there was a provision of capping the premium rate which resulted in low claims being paid to farmers. This capping was done to limit Government outgo on the premium subsidy. This capping has now been removed and farmers will get claim against full sum insured without any reduction.

• The use of technology will be encouraged to a great extent. Smart phones will be used to capture and upload data of crop cutting to reduce the delays in claim payment to farmers. Remote sensing will be used to reduce the number of crop cutting experiments.

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