The stereotype of “poor farmer” needs to be done away with: Kailash Choudhary
Kailash Choudhary, Minister of State (MoS) for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, was the chief guest at the “Rural Voice Agriculture Conclave and NEDAC Awards 2021” in New Delhi on December 23. The event was organized on the occasion of Farmers’ Day and the first anniversary of Rural Voice.
Team RuralVoice
Kailash Choudhary, Minister of State (MoS) for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, was the chief guest at the “Rural Voice Agriculture Conclave and NEDAC Awards 2021” in New Delhi on December 23. The event was organized on the occasion of Farmers’ Day and the first anniversary of Rural Voice.
An MP from Barmer in Rajasthan who belongs to a family of farmers, Choudhary released a booklet compiling select articles from ruralvoice.in and eng.ruralvoice.in, the websites of Rural Voice, published over one year of its journey.
After presenting the awards, Choudhary addressed the conclave. He said that Narendra Singh Tomar, the Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, could not be present as he had to attend to some urgent work. The Minister, he said, had been curious about the conclave and wanted to attend it.
Choudhary lauded Rural Voice to bring the rural voice — a voice that did not even reach the towns — to the capital of Delhi. “Today in the conclave,” he said, “people have gathered in such large numbers and are concerned about the villages.”
The Minister lamented that the contribution of agriculture to the GDP of the country had gone down drastically. He said this needed to be corrected.
Establishing his credentials as a “son of farmer” and “practising farmer” who even ploughs his field when he gets an opportunity, he said, “So, I know what can be done for agriculture and what its problems are.”
Choudhary said farmers had four requirements: One, they should get seeds of an improved variety. Two, these should be available at a reasonable cost. Three, they should have storage facilities for their crops. And four, marketing — to see how their crops fetched good money.
“The youth are shying away from agriculture. The government has to make the profession profit-oriented,” Choudhary said.
“We talk about a rich merchant but a poor farmer,” said Choudhary. “Farmers are often depicted in the media gazing at the sky in tattered clothes. And the caption reads, 'Farmer at God’s mercy’.” This stereotype of “poor farmer”, he felt, needs to be done away with.
Choudhary said that we had made a lot of progress in crop production. “But we now need to go to the next level: move ahead from production-based farming to income-based farming.”
He talked about the government’s commitment to create 10,000 FPOs (Farmer Producer Organizations). Such collectives, he said, would increase the small farmer’s bargaining potential. Also, inputs would be available cheap because of group discounts. FPOs, which should consist of at least 300 members, will have Rs 15 lakh as equity support and Rs 18 lakh for other expenses for a period of three years.
Choudhary talked about the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of one lakh crore rupees. Farmers can take up to 2 crore at a discount of 3 per cent without any mortgage.
“Our country will become strong only when the farmers from the villages become strong,” Choudhary concluded.
