Centre to invest Rs 18,000 crore to build agri-export clusters: Chouhan

NEW DELHI : Agriculture Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday while announcing a plan to invest Rs 18,000 crore for building 100 export clusters for agriculture and Rs 6800 crore to push self-sufficiency in pulses production accepted that there are some problems in the sector for which he is willing to discuss all issues with the farmers and their associations.

“There are problems in agriculture but solutions are also there. We will speak to farmers and farmers association,” he said while replying to a discussion in Rajya Sabha on the working of the agriculture ministry and farmers’ welfare.

On the vision for the sector, the minister said to build a climate-resilient agriculture system in the country, the Central government is developing 50,000 climate-friendly villages across the country on mission-mode apart from developing 1500 new seed varieties.

He said farmers would be given a digital identity of their own for which the government is working on a plan.

Chouhan told the Rajya Sabha that the government was working on a ‘One Health’ approach, which highlights the interrelationship between human, animal, plant, and environmental health.

On the storage and warehousing front, he said the government was investing Rs 1.40 crore on modern post-harvest infrastructure and there were plans to integrate another 1,500 mandis with the electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NaM) programme.

He highlighted the ministry’s emphasis on development of the seed sector by bringing back 2,500 traditional varieties in the crop system existing in 200 districts in the next two years.

To attain self-sufficiency in pulses and oilseeds, the minister said the government was working on developing model pulses and oilseeds villages in the next five years and cover 12 million hectares of area under micro-irrigation.