Shivraj Chouhan announces Rs 18,000 crore for horticulture clusters, says will talk to agri ministers

• Union Agriculture Minister announced 18,000 crore expenditure on setting up 100 export-oriented horticulture clusters in the next five years

Highlights:

• These clusters are to boost farm income.
• The government will soon launch an oilseeds mission with an outlay of 6,800 crore to boost domestic output and reduce imports of cooking oils.
• Due to the Kisan Samman Nidhi, farmers have become self-reliant, farmers have also become empowered and the respect of farmers has also increased.
• Amendments will be made in pesticide management legislation while over 1,500 more mandies will be integrated with the e-NAM platform.
• Speaking on the schemes that the government was working on to help farmers and make India a food basket of the world by 2047, the Union agriculture minister said that farmers will receive a digital identity similar to Aadhaar under the Digital Agriculture Mission.
• It will be linked to land records, crop details through videography, and damage assessment done through remote sensing, which will prevent any manipulation of records.
• The government was also working to diversify crops, including farming of flowers, fruits, and medicinal plants and the focus is on developing climate-resilient villages, expanding micro-irrigation, and restoring traditional crop varieties.
• There will be focus on organic farming, where farmers can utilize not all of their land, but part of it to do so.

Prelims Takeaway

• Horticulture clusters
• Kisan Samman Nidhi