Agriculture is a State Subject. Government of India facilitates the State Governments through many Centrally Sponsored and Central Sector Schemes to increase production, to reduce cost of cultivation like Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), Soil Health Card Scheme, Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation etc.

 

A statement showing the amount of budget allocated and amount spent thereon during the last five years is as under:

Soil Health Card(SHC) Scheme (Rs. In Crore)
Financial Year	Allocation	Release
2015-16	200.00	140.82
2016-17	368.30	229.16
2017-18	458.76	194.93
2018-19	384.19	315.71
2019-20	333.95	159.43

 

SUBMISSION ON AGRICULTURAL MECHANIZATION (SMAM)
Year	Budget Allocation	Amount Spent
	(RUPEES IN CRORE)
2014-15	208.3	181.35
2015-16	177.85	151.74
2016-17	180.00	363.63
2017-18	577.58	791.04
2018-19	1200.00	1126.77
2019-20	1033.34	992.19
2020-21 (AS ON DATE)	1033.09	626.48

 

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana-Per Drop More crop                                                                 (Rs. In crore)
Financial Year	Allocation	Release
2015-16	1073.13	1000.28
2016-17	2326.00	1990.57
2017-18	3395.00	2817.97
2018-19	3983.00	2915.64
2019-20	3486.65	2699.62

 

The number of farmers benefited under the schemes year wise is given below:

Soil Health Card (SHC)

Year	No. of farmers benefited
2015-16	256.84
2016-17	817.28
2017-18	302.14
2018-19	873.56
2019-20	16.80

 

SUBMISSION ON AGRICULTURAL MECHANIZATION (SMAM) WEF APRIL,2014 ( As on 31.8.2020)
Approved activities
Total Trainees   Trained	Total Agricultural Machinery Distributed including Tractor, Power Tiller & Self Propelled Machinery	Total Custom Hiring Centres Established	Total Hi-Tech Hubs Established	Total Farm Machinery Banks Established at Farmers Level
(in Numbers)
69138	1241592	12450	299	13334

 

Under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), 4592137 farmers have benefitted since 2015-16 till date.

While a comprehensive study regarding these issues is not available, according to evaluation carried out in respect of some schemes the following is brought out:

Soil Health Card Scheme

 As per feedback received from farmers from 21 states covering 171 districts, it emerged that application of fertilizers as per the recommendation of Soil Health Cards led to savings in nitrogen fertilizers like urea thereby resulting in reduction in cost of cultivation.

• Rice – the cost of cultivation is reduced by 16-25% and savings of nitrogen are found to be around 20 Kg per hectare.
• Pulses – 10-15% reduction in cost of cultivation and savings of 10 Kg per hectare of urea is observed.
• Oil Seeds – reduction in cost of cultivation is 10-15% and savings on Nitrogen are 9 Kg/acre in sunflower, around 23 kg/acre in ground nut and around 30 kg/acre in castor.
• Cash crops – in case of cotton, reduction in cost of cultivation is 25% and savings on nitrogen fertilizer is around 35 kg/acre.
• Horticulture crops- In potato, 46 kg/acre of nitrogen saving is observed.

Judicious use of fertilizers also resulted in increased production of crops.

• Cereals-increase in production of 10-20% in paddy, 10-15% in wheat and Jowar.
• Pulses-Increase in production of 10-30% in pulses.
• Oilseeds- Increase in production of around 40% in oilseeds.
• Cotton- Increase in production of around 10-20% in cotton. 

Savings on fertilizers and increase in production also resulted in increased income to farmers:

• Paddy: Increase in income of around Rs. 4500/ per acre.
• Tur: Increase in income of Rs. 25000-30,000/- per acre
• Sunflower: Increase in income of around Rs. 25000/- per acre
• Groundnut: Increase in income of around Rs. 10000/- per acre
• Cotton: Increase in income of around Rs. 12000/- per acre
• Potato: Increase in income of around Rs. 3000/- per acre.

Micro Irrigation

An impact evaluation study for Micro Irrigation completed in the 2014 and major findings of the study are:

• Irrigation cost reduced by 20% to 50% with average of 32%.
• Electricity consumption reduced by about 31%.
• Saving of fertilizers varies from 7% to 42%.
• Average productivity of fruits and vegetables increased by about 42.3% and 52%.
• Overall income enhancement of farmers was in the range of 20% to 68% with average of 48.5%.

The DAC&FW has recommended to the Department of Revenue to review the GST rates imposed on agriculture relevant inputs, equipment, appliances, machinery etc and take necessary steps to reduce the same to a reasonable level of either ‘Nil’ or at the most 5%.

This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in Rajya Sabha today

 

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