Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : The Government of India’s top priority is to put the farmers’ concerns and rural development on a larger landscape, said Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while speaking at the inauguration of the 6th World Congress on Rural and Agriculture Finance jointly organised by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and Asia-Pacific Rural Agricultural and Credit Association (APRACA) here on November 12, 2019.
The Finance Minister said that the Government is looking at acknowledging huge dependence on rural life and agriculture and further emphasised on the immediate need for taking up water management and water-related stress points. She also enumerated benefits of soil health cards provided to farmers. Talking about energy security, the Finance Minister said that there is a need for the farmers contributing in solar energy generation, participation in wind energy, installing solar panels at their farms, etc. and also to become an Urjadaata from Annadata, according to a PIB release.
The Finance Minister also directed NABARD to take up immediate and necessary steps to extend support to the farmers in the states of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh so that the next crop of saffron, peaches, walnuts and other agriculture produce in the state is procured at the right time.
“I have requested Chairman of NABARD to visit J&K so that NABARD can support the farmers there,” Sitharaman said. She also stressed the need to promote solar energy in the Ladakh region.
The Finance Minister said that the Government was focusing on the priorities of fishermen in the coastal and inland water areas. She encouraged NABARD to focus on marketing of nutrients in the coastal areas. She said NABARD can work with the FPOs and SHGs in these areas to help increase nutritional input of the area, which could be well-received in the wellness industry.
In his welcome address, Dr Harsh Kumar Bhanwala, Chairman, NABARD, said, “India provides $200 billion agriculture credit every year to small and marginal farmers. This will be enhanced once the 10,000 FPOs, as announced in this year’s Budget, will be functional. There will be a huge traction when the farmers will anchor the value chain, which in turn, will augment the value chain funding. These inclusive measures aided by technology interventions would bolster financial inclusion and rural financing efforts.”