Haryana committed to doubling farmers’ income by 2022, says Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar    

Chandigarh (Haryana) [India], Feb 22 (ANI): In order to double the income of farmers by 2022, departments of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Horticulture, Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board, and Fisheries are jointly working, said the state's Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Minister OP Dhankar on Friday.
Dhankar was replying to a question raised by MLA of INLD Kehar Singh Rawat during the Question Hour in the ongoing Budget Session of Haryana Vidhan Sabha, here on Friday. He said that be it crops of wheat and paddy or mustard or bajra, the farmers are getting assured income between Rs 5,000 to Rs 12,000 per acre.
He said that recently, the minimum support price (MSP) of 13 crops have been increased by the Central government. Under which the MSP of wheat has been increased to Rs 1,840 per quintal from Rs 1,450, MSP of gram increased to Rs 4,620 from Rs 3,175 per quintal, and MSP of mustard increased to Rs 4200 from Rs 3100 per quintal.
The minister further informed the House that MSP of paddy ‘Grade A’ has been increased to Rs 1,770 from Rs 1,400 per quintal, MSP of paddy increased to Rs 1,750 from Rs 1,360 per quintal, MSP of maize increased to Rs 1,700 from Rs 1,310 per quintal, MSP of bajra increased to Rs 1,950 from Rs 1,250 per quintal, MSP of ‘jawar’ increased to Rs 2,430 from Rs 1,530 per quintal, MSP of sugarcane increased to Rs 340 from Rs 310 per quintal, MSP of cotton increased to Rs 5,450 from Rs 4,050 per quintal, and ‘moong’ increased to Rs 6,975 from Rs 4,600 per quintal.
Dhankar apprised the House that record 1.84 lakh metric tonnes of bajra were procured during 2018-19. Under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, Rs 1140.98 crore was given as compensation to 5.98 lakh farmers.
He said that a new scheme called Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana has been implemented, under which small and marginal farmers would be given financial assistance of Rs 6,000 per year.
“E-NAM has been introduced in 54-grain markets of the state. A total of 45.21 lakh soil health cards have been distributed. Bhavantar Bharpayee Scheme has been implemented for vegetables and apart from this, new schemes have been implemented to incline the interest of farmers towards horticulture, animal husbandry, and dairying and pisciculture,” he said.
In reply to another question raised by INLD MLA Ram Chand Kamboj, Dhankar said that during 2017-18, a premium of Rs 208.98 crore has been collected from the farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, whereas Rs 849.73 crore was disbursed as compensation amount to farmers. (ANI)