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The President said that our agriculture exports have also reached a record level due to the efforts of the government. Agricultural exports registered a growth of more than 25 per cent in the year 2020-21 and have reached nearly Rs 3 lakh crore.
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Amid the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led central government is working continuously to empower the farmers and the rural economy of the country, said President Ram Nath Kovind during his address at the joint sitting of two Houses of Parliament, on Monday.
Addressing both Houses, he said that amidst the progress made in respect of Digital India and the digital economy, I also appreciate the government's vision for the success of the country's UPI platform. Transactions worth more than Rupees 8 lakh crore have taken place in the country through UPI in December 2021. This is a clear example of how fast our people are adopting technology and rapid change."
While praising the government, Kovind said that more than two crore pucca houses have been provided to the poor under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana as a result of the efforts made in the last few years. Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Gramin, 1 crore 17 lakh houses have been approved at a cost of about Rupees one and a half lakh crore in the last three years.
"Despite the pandemic, our farmers produced more than 30 crore tonnes of food grains and 33 crore tonnes of horticulture produce in 2020-21. The government made record procurement to match the record production. The government procured 433 lakh metric tonnes of wheat during the Rabi season benefiting about 50 lakh farmers. A record quantity of about 900 lakh metric tonnes of paddy was procured during Kharif season, benefiting 1 crore 30 lakh farmers," added Kovind.
The President further said that our agriculture exports have also reached a record level due to the efforts of the government. Agricultural exports registered a growth of more than 25 per cent in the year 2020-21 and have reached nearly Rs 3 lakh crore.
"In order to ensure remunerative prices to farmers for their crops, it is necessary that their products reach the right market. In this direction, the government has endeavoured to open new avenues of prosperity for the farmers by launching Kisan Rail Seva," he mentioned.
Thousands of projects have been approved under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund having a corpus of Rupees one lakh crore. In order to ensure self-sufficiency in edible oil, my government has also launched the National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm with an outlay of Rupees 11,000 crore. Government is also making special efforts like organic farming, natural farming and crop diversification, according to Kovind.