Cooperation Minister: We will buy pulses from all the farmers who register on this portal even before production...this is PM Modi's guarantee
FinTech BizNews Service
Mumbai, January 5, 2024: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit
Shah launched the portal developed by National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing
Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED)and National Cooperative Consumers' Federation
of India Limited (NCCF) for registration, procurement and payment of tur dal
producing farmers in New Delhi on Thursday. Amit Shah addressed the national
symposium organized on ‘Self-reliance in Pulses’. Union Minister of Agriculture and
Farmers Welfare Arjun Munda, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs Ashwini
Choubey, Minister of State for Cooperation B. L. Verma and many other dignitaries
were present on the occasion.
In his address, the Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that today
we have taken such an initiative through the portal which will facilitate the farmers in
selling tur dal by registering in advance through NAFED and NCCF and they will be
able to get payment at MSP or more than MSP at market price through DBT. He said
that with this beginning, in the coming days the prosperity of farmers, self-reliance of
the country in the production of pulses and nutrition campaigns will be strengthened.
With this, our campaign of crop pattern changing will gain momentum and there will
also be changes in the areas of land reform and water conservation. He said that
today's beginning is the beginning of bringing tremendous changes in the agriculture
sector in the coming days.
Amit Shah said that today the country is not self-reliant in the field of pulses, but we
have achieved self-sufficiency in green gram (moong) and gram (chana). He said
that in an agricultural country like India, the availability of water is increasing and the
different weather in different parts of the country is very useful for agriculture. Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has put a big responsibility on the farmers producing pulses
to make India ‘Atmanirbhar’ in the pulses sector by the year 2027. He expressed
confidence that with the cooperation of farmers, India will become ‘Atmanirbhar’ in
the field of pulses production before December 2027 and the country will not have to
import even a single kilogram of pulses.
The Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that to make the country
Atmanirbhar in the field of pulses, several meetings have been held with the Ministry
of Cooperation, the Ministry of Agriculture and other parties in which the obstacles
coming in the way of achieving this goal have been discussed. He said that many
times farmers producing pulses did not get fair prices due to speculators or any other
situation, due to which they suffered huge losses. Due to this, farmers did not like to
cultivate pulses. Shah said that we have decided that the farmer who registers
himself with NAFED and NCCF even before production, his pulses will be purchased
100 percent at the Minimum Support Price (MSP). Shah said that after registering
on this portal, farmers will have laddus in both their hands. He said that if the price of
pulses is higher than the MSP when the pulses crop arrives, then a scientific formula
has been made to buy pulses from farmers at a higher price by calculating its
average and this will never cause injustice to the farmers.
Amit Shah appealed to the farmers to register with NAFED and NCCF and it is the
guarantee of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the government will buy the pulses
of the farmers and farmers will not have to wander anywhere to sell it. He expressed
confidence that the farmers of the country will leave no stone unturned in making the
country Atmanirbhar. The Minister of Cooperation added that a large part of the
country is still vegetarian and protein is very important for them, the only source of
which is pulses. He said that the production of pulses has great importance in the
country's fight against malnutrition. Pulses are also an important crop for land
reclamation because the cultivation of pulses increases the quality of the land. He
also said that pulses production requires less water and the falling groundwater level
in many parts of the country remains a matter of concern for our future. If the
groundwater level is to be maintained and increased, then such crops will have to be
selected whose production requires less water.
The Minister of Cooperation said that earlier the farmers had a dilemma that if they
produce pulses, they will not get a fair price, but now Prime Minister Narendra Modi
has ended the dilemma of the farmers. If the farmers have registered, then it is the
responsibility of NAFED and NCCF to purchase the entire pulses at MSP. He said
that pulses, in a way, set up a mini fertilizer factory in farmersfield. Providing 30 to 40
kg of nitrogen in one hectare area is a big thing and this has been proved by many
experiments. Shah added that it is a good news for the farmers of states like
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Bihar that they can register their land size for
pulses. They can be assured that their pulses will be purchased at MSP.
The Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation praised NAFED and NCCF for
launching the portal in a very short time. He appealed to all the Farmers Producer
Organisations (FPOs) and progressive farmers of the country to create awareness
about the portal in all the areas where pulses can be produced. He said that farmers
should be made aware that registration can be done in all languages through a very
simple step. He said that after getting the acknowledgment of registration, NAFED
and NCCF are bound to buy the pulses of the farmers at least at MSP and the option
of selling their pulses in the market is also open to the farmers.
Amit Shah said that the portal has been designed in a very scientific manner, in
which Aadhaar number is verified, unique ID of the farmer is created, it has been
integrated with land records and integrated with Aadhaar based payment. There is a
system of transferring the value of farmers produce directly to the bank accounts of
farmers without any kind of corruption. He said that efforts are also being made to
integrate this portal with warehousing agencies on a real time basis. In the coming
days under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi a large part of
warehousing is going to come in the cooperative sector. Each Primary Agricultural
Cooperative Credit Society (PACS) is moving towards building a larger warehouse,
this will solve the problem of shipping crops away. The Minister of Cooperation said
that the government will at least give the MSP rate and if farmers get higher prices in
the market, they are also free to sell their crops in the market. He appealed to the
farmers to adopt pulses and make the country self-reliant in the pulses sector before
January 1, 2028 so that India does not have to import even a single kilogram of
pulses.
The Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that within a very short time,
537 PACS and many FPOs have joined this portal. 480 PACS and FPOs from
Gujarat, 227 from Maharashtra, 209 from Karnataka, 45 from Madhya Pradesh and
other states have also expressed their desire to join the portal. He said that in the
last 9 years, during the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there has been a
huge change in food grain production. Shah said that the total food grain production
in the year 2013-14 was 265 million tonnes and in 2022-23 it has increased to 330
million tonnes. He said that if we analyze any one decade in the 75 years after
independence, the biggest growth has been achieved by the farmers of the country
under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji. He said that during this
period there has been a huge increase in the production of pulses but we are not
self-sufficient in three pulses and we have to be self-reliant in them.
Amit Shah said that it is a matter of satisfaction that today India is number one in the
world in terms of production of pulses, both in area and production. India has 31
percent of the sowing area for pulses production in the world. India has 28 percent
share in total pulses production. He said that the government has formed a
cooperative for export, through which the aim of exporting pulses across the world
will move forward and this responsibility rests on the farmers of the country. He said
that to increase productivity, a cooperative has also been formed for the production
of good seeds. In a few days we will put forward our project to increase the
productivity of pulses and oilseeds seeds. We will also conserve and promote our
traditional seeds. Along with this, to increase productivity, we have formed a multi-
state seed modification committee on a cooperative basis. He also appealed to all
PACS to register with the committee.
Amit Shah said that in 2013-14, the country's farmers produced 19 million metric
tons of pulses while in 2022-23 it was 26 million metric tons, but we should not be
satisfied with this. He said that we have to create such a system in which by 2027 we
can not only stop the import of pulses but also export it. The Minister of Cooperation
assured the farmers and appealed to them to become members of this portal. He
said that with such small efforts we will do a lot of work for the country and this will
also make the farmers prosperous. Shah said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi
had asked from the ramparts of the Red Fort to double the income of farmers. He
said that the opposition parties make fun of it without looking at the figures. Giving
figures, the Minister of Cooperation said that in 2014-15, the MSP of Tur was Rs
4350 and today the MSP of Tur is Rs 7000. He said that in Toor alone we have
worked to increase the income of farmers by 65%. In the same period, the MSP of
green gram (moong) was Rs 4600 which has become Rs 8,558 today, the MSP of
black gram (urad) was Rs 4350 which has been increased to Rs 6950, the MSP of
gram was Rs 3100 which has been increased to Rs 5440 and the MSP of lentils was
Rs2950 which has increased more than two times to Rs 6425. Shah said that now
farmers can sow as much tur, urad and masoor as they want and their income will
double without doing anything else.
The Home Minister and Minister of cooperation told the farmers across the country
that no other government has increased the MSP so much in 10 years except the
government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said that the goal of
cooperative movement is prosperity through cooperation and in this prosperity
means prosperity of the farmer. He said that today Prime Minister Narendra Modi
has worked to strengthen the cooperative movement for the prosperity of farmers
and farmers should have a clear message and understanding of this. Shah said that
today we need to be self-reliant in arhar, urad and lentils. To increase the quality and
production of pulses, 150 good seed centers have been established with ICAR and
IIPR, Kanpur. He said that many FPOs are also engaged in this work. 608 FPOs for
primary cultivation of pulses and 123 such FPOs for secondary or inter cultivation
have been registered.
Amit Shah said that this revolution will not only increase nutrition and make us self-
reliant, but will also reduce the prices of pulses for our consumers. That is why
through NCCF and NAFED we have created the concept of ‘Bharat Dal’ and we are
currently trying to deliver these pulses with the Bharat brand to all places across the
country. In the coming days, the scope of Bharat Dal is going to be the largest. He
added that Bharat Dal has become the best selling brand, that too within just 7
months. Its prices are also low and our farmers are directly benefiting from it. Along
with this, we also have to increase the production of ethanol. Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has set a target of mixing 20 percent ethanol with petrol and if we
want to mix 20 percent ethanol, then we have to produce lakhs of tons of ethanol for
this. He said that NAFED and NCCF are going to start registration of maize on the
same pattern in the coming days. For farmers who sow maize, we will make
arrangements for selling their maize at MSP directly to the ethanol manufacturing
factory, so that there is no exploitation of the farmer. And the money will go directly
into the bank account. He said that farmer’s field does not grow maize only but will
become a well for producing petrol. Shah added that the farmers of the country
should save the foreign currency which is used for import of petrol. The Minister of
Cooperation said that he wants to appeal to the farmers across the country that we
should become Atmanirbhar in the pulses sector and also take the nutrition
campaign forward.
