Sops can’t change farmers’ fate: Minister

At a time when the Telangana government is working overtime to launch the disbursement of investment support for agriculture at ₹4,000 per acre per season, Union Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has observed that such subsidies and incentives can’t change the fate of farmers in the country.

Speaking on the sidelines of a seminar on oilseeds here on Saturday he said the governments had been giving subsidies to farmers on seed, fertiliser, electricity, micro irrigation, farm mechanisation and many other aspects. “However, the need is capacity building among farmers for value addition to their produce at village level, which not only makes agriculture profitable but also addresses unemployment problem at that level to a large extent and prevents migration for livelihood,” he noted.

Turn around in the farmer’s fortunes was possible in the country by focusing on “reverse engineering” in agriculture by identifying food produce in demand and taking up its processing with value addition with specified norms at village level itself, he added.