Nirmala Sitharaman Unveils Third Tranche Of Covid-19 Relief Package Focused On Agriculture

“We’ve been taking inputs and based on that we’ve been working. PM Garib Kalyan was a package announced hours after the lockdown. It had monies going. Rs 500 for women with Jan Dhan accounts for three months. There was money given. It may not be adequate. I grant that. Nothing can be adequate at this time when people are cutoff, when people are staying put in their house, when people don’t have the money they earned given to them, their salaries are not coming. Nothing can be adequate. But the first thing we announced was give money to people. Give gas to them to cook in their houses so that they don’t go running for fuel to cook food. Give them free grains. We did do that.”

—Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

The government will bring in a facilitative legal framework to ensure that farmers get a predictable price and predictable sales of their produce.

Farmers will be able to engage with processors, aggregators, large retailers and exports so that they can fix their fair price, be sure that they can export and in the process benefit from better technical assistance.

Government to bring in law to implement agriculture marketing reforms to provide marketing choices to farmers; law will provide adequate choices to farmer to sell produce at attractive price#AatmaNirbharDesh #AatmanirbharBharat pic.twitter.com/LdnhUGoPZ1

— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) May 15, 2020

The government will make changes to the Essential Commodities Act to enable better price realisation for farmers, the finance minister said.

Agriculture foods like cereals, edible oils, oilseeds, pulses, onions and potatoes will now be deregulated.

There will be stock limit imposed under very exceptional circumstances like a famine with surge in prices.

Stock limits won't apply to processors or value chain participants.

The government will extend Operation Greens—which covers tomatoes, onions and potatoes—to all fruits and vegetables.

The scheme includes 50 percent subsidy on transportation from surplus to deficient markets. It also has a 50 percent subsidy on storage, including cold storages.

The pilot was done for 6 months and will now be expanded and extended. The plan is expected to deliver better prices, reduced wastages and affordable produce.

The government will set aside Rs 500 crore for beekeeping initiatives in the country to develop infrastructure.

The plan is related to building integrated beekeeping development centres, collection, marketing and storage centres, post-harvest and value addition facilities for beekeepers.

To promote Herbal Cultivation in India Government commits Rs 4000 crore; move aims to cover 10 lakh hectare under herbal cultivation in 2 years; corridor of medicinal plants to come up across banks of Ganga#AatmaNirbharDesh pic.twitter.com/9nOywMqG2P

— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) May 15, 2020

Government announces an Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund worth Rs. 15,000 crore to support private investment in Dairy Processing, value addition and cattle feed infrastructure#AatmaNirbharDesh pic.twitter.com/zaRgKieUr8

— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) May 15, 2020

Government to launch Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana for integrated, sustainable, inclusive development of marine and inland fisheries to plug critical gaps in fisheries value chain; move will provide employment to over 55 lakh persons & double exports to Rs 1 lakh crore pic.twitter.com/ZDV2ldSEV2

— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) May 15, 2020

Aiming to implement PM's vision of ‘Vocal for Local with Global outreach’, a scheme will be launched to help 2 lakh Micro Food Enterprises; Improved health and safety standards, integration with retail markets and improved incomes to be key focus areas#AatmaNirbharDesh pic.twitter.com/nnuXlJdPyp

— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) May 15, 2020

In a move to strenghten infrastructure in agriculture, financing facility of Rs. 1 lakh crore will be provided for funding Agriculture Infrastructure Projects at farm-gate & aggregation points#AatmaNirbharDesh #AatmanirbharBharat pic.twitter.com/I6XsQI6EE9

— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) May 15, 2020

• During the lockdown period, purchases of over Rs 74,300 crore based on the minimum support prices have taken place.
• PM KISAN fund transfer of Rs 18,700 crore.
• Claim payment of Rs 6,400 crore cleared under PM Fasal Bima Yojana.
• Over 560 lakh litre of milk per day procured by cooperatives as the demand of milk had fallen.
• Over 111 crore litres were procured extra ensuring payments of Rs 4,100 crore.

The finance minister said that eleven measures for the agriculture sector are being announced. Of these, eight will revolve around the strengthening of infrastructure, capacity and building logistics for the agri sector.

The third tranche of economic measures will focus on agriculture and allied activities, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. “Today’s measures are on agri, fisheries, dairy, animal husbandry, food processing and allied activities.”

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today announced the third tranche of measures under India’s Covid-19 relief package—a Rs 20-lakh-crore plan aimed at bringing the economy back to its feet after the lockdown.

Eleven measures were announced today for agriculture and allied sectors. On Wednesday, in the first tranche of the economic package, the finance minister announced measures for small businesses, non-banking financial firms and power distribution companies. On Thursday, the finance minister’s focus was on migrant workers, farmers and the urban poor.

Here are key highlights from today’s announcements:

• New Rs 1 lakh crore agriculture infrastructure fund to be established.
• A new scheme worth Rs 10,000 crore aimed at formalisation of micro food enterprises.
• Allocated Rs 20,000 crore for fishermen through the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana which was announced in the Union Budget 2020.
• Another fund of Rs 15,000 crore for developing animal husbandry infrastructure has will be set up.
• Government will allocate Rs 4,000 crore for herbal cultivation.
• For beekeeping initiatives, Rs 500 crore has been set aside.
• Operation Greens will be expanded to cover all fruits and vegetables for Rs 500 crore.
• Amendments will be brought to the Essential Commodities Act to deregulate foods like cereals, edible oils, oilseeds, pulses, onions and potatoes.
• Agriculture marketing reforms will be implemented through a new law that will remove barriers to inter-state trade.
• Farmers will be given price and quality assurance through facilitative agriculture produce.

Read on for more details on each announcement.