Just ahead of the monsoon season, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s approval to a whopping Rs 3.7 lakh crore package for farmers across the country is one of the best decisions of the government in recent times.
As part of the broad-based PM Programme for Restoration, Awareness, Generation, Nourishment and Amelioration of Mother Earth (PM-PRANAM) scheme, the government hopes to thus boost the well-being of farmers, rejuvenate soil productivity and ensure food security and environmental sustainability.
Financial assistance to be given to states to promote alternative fertilisers and reduce chemical fertiliser use is of particular value in guiding our agrarian economy towards greater sustainability and a higher level of environment-friendliness, besides pushing a healthier lifestyle for all people.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approving Rs 1,451 crores for promoting organic manure is laudable.
It is equally welcome, pragmatically speaking, that while we pursue more organic options, farmers are not subjected to any drastic reform that would impact their livelihood, and thus the move will also help continue the current urea subsidy scheme for three more years.
As Union chemicals and fertilisers minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced after the Cabinet meeting, the decision of the Cabinet to continue the urea subsidy scheme and further introduce sulphur-coated urea (Urea Gold) to address the issue of sulphur deficiency in soil will simultaneously result both in reducing input costs for farmers and addressing agflation (agriculture input inflation), as well as accentuate the shift towards sustainable agriculture while promoting indigenous urea production.
Continuing to offer farmers higher remuneration for crops as a policy, the government moved to increase the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) to Rs 315 per quintal for sugarcane which will support farmers growing sugarcane and help increase sugar production as well as keep sugar prices lower.
Overall, a good slew of moves, and the only good news farmers, and the country, need now is that of good rains.
