India stands among top two producers in the world in terms of most agricultural products as a result of the hard work of farmers and peasant-friendly policies of the government, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said today.

Virtually inaugurating a joint conference of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE), he said India’s organic products were in demand across the world and despite adverse conditions like the Corona epidemic, agricultural exports from India touching Rs. 3.75 lakh crore was a good sign.

”In such a scenario, we must sustain the quality of our agricultural products and ensure it meets the global standards,” he added.

Tomar noted that India was a country with diverse climatic conditions and there was a possibility of very favourable weather for farming. “Our agriculture sector is very strong, which stands tall even in adverse conditions. Recently, even during the Covid crisis, when the whole world had almost come to a standstill, then despite the lockdown, all agricultural activities like sowing, harvesting, marketing, etc. continued uninterrupted.”

He said the Indian agriculture sector is vast and a majority of its population is dependent on agriculture. Therefore, necessary changes have been made by the government for its progress and scholars also keep supporting the government through their suggestions, all of which would benefit the agriculture sector.

Several initiatives have been taken under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last eight years for the development and management of agriculture. One thousand mandis across the country have been linked with the National Agricultural Market (e-NAM) and the process was on to connect the remaining mandis. Efforts have been made by the Centre to enable farmers to get remunerative prices for their produce and to adopt technology in agriculture, he said.

Tomar said that the work of setting up 10,000 Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs) has started in the country with an expenditure of Rs 6,865 crores. “FPOs constitute about 85 percent of small farmers in the country. Under the umbrella of the FPOs, the farmers gain by expanding their area of cultivation resulting in higher volumes of production, they also get better quality seeds and fertilizers and can avail of convenient loans, all of which will increase the overall income of farmers and improve farming,” he added.

The government has arranged custom hiring centers at various places and farmers were also being given subsidies for agricultural implements. Earlier, the doors of private investment in the agriculture sector were often closed, but now efforts were being made to bring facilities like warehouses, cold storage, packaging machines, etc. to the villages, for which the Centre has earmarked a special package worth Rs 1.5 lakh crores in agriculture and allied sectors, the minister added.