Agriculture Current Affair 11 February 2022

Govt sanctions Rs 6,540 cr via Agri Infra Fund so far: Narendra Singh Tomar

The Centre has approved over 9,000 applications and sanctioned Rs 6,540 crore so far, for the development of agri-infra projects, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Friday in Rajya Sabha. Tomar, in his written reply to the Rajya Sabha, said: “As on date, 16,026 applications for an amount of Rs 10,627 crore have been received on the AIF portal. Out of these, 9,019 applications for Rs 6,540 crore have been sanctioned.”

This amount has been sanctioned under the Agriculture Infra Fund (AIF), under which financing facility is provided for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management Infrastructure and community farming assets through interest subvention and support through credit guarantee facility.

AIF with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore will be disbursed through loan by 2025-26.

PMKSY scheme extended till FY’26 with Rs 4,600 crore outlay

The food processing ministry on Monday said its flagship scheme ‘Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY)’ has been extended till March 2026 with an allocation of Rs 4,600 crore. In a tweet, the ministry said PMKSY has been extended for a period of 2021-22 to 2025-26.

The Central government has allocated Rs 4,600 crore for the scheme, the ministry tweeted.

PMKSY is a comprehensive package which will lead to creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet.

The scheme will boost growth of food processing sector but also help in providing better prices to farmers and creating huge employment opportunities.

No need for separate agriculture budget: Govt

Asserting that it is committed to farmers’ interest and farming, the government on Tuesday said in Lok Sabha that there was no need to have a separate budget for agriculture. Replying to a question in the Lower House, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar said keeping a separate budget for agriculture would neither benefit the country nor the farmers.

He was replying to a question asked by DMK member T R Baalu why the government does not consider bringing a separate budget for agriculture to address the problems of the farmers.

During global recession, the DMK member said, India “withstood” because of the agriculture.