New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday released the 9th instalment of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (
) transferring over Rs 19,500 crore into the accounts of more than 9.75 crore farmers.
Under the government’s flagship scheme to benefit farmers, a total of Rs 1.60 lakh crore has been given to farmers so far. Of this, Rs 1 lakh crore were transferred to small farmers during the pandemic period.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that the government has made the biggest ever purchase from farmers at MSP.
“With this, about Rs 1,70,000 crore have reached directly into the accounts of rice farmers and about Rs 85,000 crore have gone directly into the account of wheat farmers,” he said.
The PM thanked farmers for raising pulses output thus reducing import dependence of the country.
He recalled that a few years ago when the country faced shortage of pulses he had urged farmers to increase production. As a result, he noted, there has been an increase of almost 50 percent in the production of pulses in the country in the last six years.
The Prime Minister pointed out that for the first time India has reached among the top-10 countries of the world in terms of agricultural exports.
“The country has set new records of agricultural exports during the Corona period. Today, when India is becoming recognized as a big agricultural exporting country, it is not right to stay dependent on imports for our needs of edible oil,” he said.
He said that through the National Edible Oil Mission-Oil Palm mission, more than Rs 11,000 crore will be invested in the cooking oil ecosystem.
“Government will ensure that farmers get all the facilities, from quality seeds to technology,” he said. (UNI)