Farmers freed from huge fertiliser prices: PM Modi in Karnataka

Bengaluru: The war between Russia and Ukraine resulted in costs of fertilisers reaching a record high in the world, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday and claimed that farmers' of the country have been freed from the burden of bearing the cost of hike in the prices of fertilisers which would come around Rs 2 lakh crore in the country.

At an election campaign in Shivamogga in Karnataka, Modi said the burden which would have fallen on farmers but now the Union Government has taken on the burden of fertilisers costs going up.

“I did not wish to burden the farmers over the rise in prices of fertilisers going up in the market,” Modi said and stated that the country has emerged among the top 10 agricultural produce countries of the world while the agriculture exports of the country were limited under the Congress party. Under BJP, he said, imports got lessened while exports went up.

Over areca nut growers, Modi said with the import of areca nut coming down in the country, it benefitted the areca nut growers of Karnataka and now the Minimum Support Price for areca nut has gone up from Rs 100 per kg earlier to Rs 350 per kg now to help areca nut growers.

Modi stated that under his regime facilities have been made available for farmers seeds to market facilities and farmers now have access to more than 2,000 new varieties of seeds and termed “It a record” created in the last 9 years of his rule over the country.

The Prime Minister accused the Congress party’s farm loan waiver scheme benefitted only its own people and to fill-up its treasury while under him, farmers got benefitted of about Rs 18,000 crore by way of transfer of money directly into the accounts of farmers under Prime Minister's Kisan Samman Yojana.