During the lockdown, the agriculture sector had functioned smoothly.  Government of India has taken all necessary measures to ensure smooth operation of agriculture related activities. Farming and allied activities were exempted from the lockdown. Seed, pesticide, fertilizer etc. dealers / shops and other input related activities were allowed to open / free for making inputs available to the farmers. Inter and intra state movement of farm machinery specially combine harvesters was facilitated. As a result of the various steps taken by the Department, both harvesting activities of the Rabi Crop and sowing activities of Summer Crop took place in a systematic manner. However, no income assessment report which estimates the impact of Covid on the income of small and marginal farmers due to nation-wide lockdown is available.

Agriculture and Allied Sectors registered a growth of 3.4% during 2020-21 even as the overall economic growth declined by -7.2% during the same period. Growth rate of Agriculture and Allied sectors during the last 5 years are given below.  

                                (2011-12 prices)

YEAR	Growth (%)
2016-17	6.8
2017-18*	6.6
2018-19 #	2.6
2019-20@	4.3
2020-21**	3.4
Source: Central Statistics Office (CSO) M/o Statistics & PI
** As per First Advance Estimates of National Income, 2020-21 released on 7th January 2021
*  Third Revised Estimates, # Second Revised Estimate,  @As per the First Revised Estimates for 2019-20 released on 29th January, 2021

 

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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APS

 

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