Governor Banwarilal Purohit was speaking after launching the Kanchi-Kisan Advancement through Cashless Innovation, a digital farmer financial inclusion platform developed by the National Agro Foundation and Centre for Digital Financial Inclusion at the Raj Bhavan here. It has been developed for the benefit of farmers, rural women and their organisations. He said under the Prime Minister Krishi Sincahi Yojana, aimed at water management which forms the basis and the life line of farming, 4.82 lakh hectares have been covered under micro irrigation in the last six years and it was extended to an additional area of one lakh hectares.

He said 15.2 lakh farmers have been covered under Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana and Rs 487.37 crore has been given as premium subsidy by the state government. “Similarly, under the soil health card scheme, 57.63 lakh soil health cards have been distributed to farmers,” he added. 

Observing that Tamil Nadu was a leading state in financial inclusion with over 88.52 lakh Jan Dhan accounts, Purohit said through these schemes, the government was committed to increase farmers’ income. 

He emphasised that by strengthening Farmers Producer Organisations (FPOs), farmers could get better price for their produce and added that use of digital technologies would help strengthen the business operations of FPOs. He also said the state government has amended the APMC act in order to join the e-NAM platform. 

The Governor said digital platform — KANCHI — would help farmers link with banks and markets and expressed confidence that by using it, they would get better access to credit and market, thereby improving their socio-economic status.