Hyderabad: With the country’s farmers being hit hard by the nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus outbreak, prominent agriculture scientist MS Swaminathan has put forth certain suggestions to address the issue.
In a statement released on Friday by the Swaminathan Foundation, the agronomist said that the amount paid currently under the PM Kisan Yojana is “inadequate to overcome the current losses and make investment for the next cropping season.”
Following is the edited text of the suggestions made by MS Swaminathan:
- The scheme of ‘Market Intervention’ should be put into practice for meeting the purchase price of crops. The central and state governments must bear the differential pricing equally and help the farmer.
- Local transport of labourers must be approved.
- Governments should give priority access to machine tools so that the farmer can take care of their agricultural needs.
- The Central and State Governments shall assure of purchasing/ taking care of the collection of the Rabi seasonal crop.
- Farmers need to be prepared for the Kharif seasonal plantation. To meet the requirements, new loans need to be provided, regardless of old dues.
- Financial protection of the farmer from various private lenders and traders should be provided to the farmer. Such traders/lenders need to be ordered not to collect interest from the farmers till the next harvest.
- Under ’PM Kisan’ yojana, farmers are getting Rs.6,000. This amount may be increased to Rs.15,000, half of which may be deposited into their accounts with immediate effect.
- Care needs to be taken that various Farmer Production Societies are actively participating in all the above and other related activities that benefit the farmers.
- Crop cuts and harvesting costs should be paid under the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
- Cold warehouses and other warehouses should be made available for storage of crops until the markets are fully activated. The strategies being followed by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in storing Milk may be replicated by the National Horticulture Development Board (NHDB) in the case of horticultural crops.
- The government should take measures to see that the relevant and quality seeds are made available by the time of Kharif plantation season.
- Recognize the role of women in agriculture and provide them with technical and financial empowerment.
- Farmers should be provided with value-added machinery for successful and quality crop production.
