Farmers will now fix the prices of their crops and sell them in the markets: MoS Agriculture Kailash Chaudhary

In the hope of providing relief to the farmers, the Modi-led government has introduced a scheme which aims at making the Indian farmers more self-reliant. In an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat, Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Chaudhary told that farmers will now be able to fix the prices of their crops and sell them in the market.

Barmer: The condition of the farmers in the country is not hidden from anyone, as even after the hard work, the farmers are not able to get the right prices for their crops. But now the good news for them is that they will be able to decide the value of their produce themselves.

In a special conversation with ETV Bharat, Union Minister for Agriculture Kailash Chaudhary said that this scheme has been initiated to make farmers self-reliant.

Farmers will become self-sufficient

The Union Minister said that the aim of the Central Government's Gram Swaraj Yojana is to empower the farmers.

He said that work is being done to make the farmers more self-reliant.

"The central government has given a package of 1 lakh crore rupees for this scheme. In the coming days, the farmers will be able to decide the value of their crops on their own. The central government has also increased the provision within the budget to 1 lakh 51 thousand crore. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a package of 20 lakh crore, within which about 3 and half lakh crore will be spent for agriculture in the upcoming days," told Chaudhary.

Scheme to register 10 thousand new FPOs

The Modi government is planning to register 10,000 new Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) to promote cooperative farming in the country. Each FPO will also be given Rs 15 lakh for farming and farm-related work. This will include work ranging from agricultural sowing and harvesting to marketing.

The government has selected 25 cities within the country, whose population is 20 to 25 lakh, for this programme. The farmers who will be from the surrounding districts of selected cities will bring all the vegetables and fruits at one place under the FPO and the rate will be fixed there.

Government plans to protect the crops from locusts

The central government has given handovers to 60 U.K. companies and has ordered 5 helicopters to do the spraying over farmlands. The government is planning air – spraying along with spraying from drones over locust affected areas, the tender of which has also been given.

"The central government is also promoting organic farming and has a separate scheme for it. The area of North East has been declared as an organic zone. They are also declaring places where pesticides are not used as organic zones and are planning to do organic farming there," added Chaudhary.