Farmers, farming must be treated with honour: Narendra Singh Tomar

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday said farmers and farming should be treated with honour.

The minister was addressing the inaugural session of the two-day International Conference on "Harnessing Indian Agriculture for Indigenous and Global Prosperity" here, organised in collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) on the occasion of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

"The farmer is not despondent, hungry or poor, rather there is a need to get out of this terminology. The farmer may be poor, he may own small fields but in spite of this he not only supports his family but also contributes to the agricultural economy of the country. Farmers and farming should be treated with honour," Tomar was quoted as saying in an official statement.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a scheme to support farmers' income, he named it as Kisan Samman Nidhi with a sense of pride, the minister said.

"Under this scheme, Rs 6,000 are given to the farmers every year and till now about Rs 2 lakh crore have been given to about eleven and a half crore farmers by direct credit into their bank accounts," Tomar said.

The government is working on various fronts to make the country a healthy and leading nation and it gives priority to the villages, poor people and farmers.

"Development of villages, eradication of poverty, elimination of inequality, prosperity of farmers and development of agriculture is the priority of the Modi government.

"Central and state governments and scientists are working on this priority, while farmers are also working hard. As a result of this, we see that India is moving towards prosperity day by day," Tomar said.

He stressed the need to address the existing challenges in the agriculture sector.

To attract people towards agriculture and increase profits in this sector, Tomar said there is a need to focus on raising productivity and income.

"The cost to the farmer should be low, he should be supported with technology, the doors of private investment in farming should be opened, farmers should shift towards remunerative crops, market access should improve and there should be no exploitation of the farmers, our aim should be to strive for such an administrative system," Tomar said.