Fortune for farmers

Key government initiatives like Agriculture Infrastructure Fund will go a long way in increasing the income of 'Annadatas', and eventually transform their lives for better

- SHIVRAJ SINGH CHOUHAN

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's deep concern and sensitivity towards farmers is clearly visible in the decisions, policies and plans taken for the farming community. Transforming the lives of our food providers (Annadatas) is the first and foremost goal of our Prime Minister. This is the reason why agriculture and farmers remained the top priorities in the first 100 days of the third term of the NDA government. Under his leadership, the government is making unprecedented efforts for the empowerment and upliftment of the agriculture sector. We are committed to increasing farmers' income, which clearly reflects in schemes such as Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) and PM AASHA.

Post-harvest losses in India are a major challenge, which threaten the production capacity of the agricultural sector and it also adversely impacts the hard work put in by lakhs of farmers. According to latest estimates, about 16-18 per cent of the total food production is affected every year in India due to this. These losses can be attributed to various stages of agriculture such as harvesting, threshing, storage, transportation and processing. Lack of proper storage, cold chain, inadequate processing units, and lack of efficient logistics contribute to these huge losses, as a result of which the overall food security of our country gets affected. Keeping all these factors in mind, the Modi government is working with renewed enthusiasm towards strengthening this.