Niti Aayog Member Chand said that by the month of March or mid-April, agricultural activities are at their peak. After that they decrease. These activities again gain momentum with the arrival of Monsoon.
The member of Niti Aayog has said important things on agriculture.
Niti Aayog views on Agriculture in India: The first and second wave of corona epidemic has badly affected the economy of the world including India. Almost every sector has been affected by this. But in the meantime, the one thing that has kept the economy going is agriculture. Farmers have left no stone unturned in handling the country’s economy on their own. This second wave of epidemic is also not going to have any effect on agriculture. The country’s think tank NITI Aayog has also said this.
NITI Aayog member (Agriculture) Ramesh Chand believes that the second wave of COVID-19 will not have any adverse effect on the agriculture sector of the country. He said that the infection has spread in rural areas in May, at that time there is very little agricultural activities.
Chand said in an interview to news agency PTI that India’s policy on subsidies, prices and technology is heavily tilted in favor of rice, wheat and sugarcane. He emphasized that policies on procurement and Minimum Support Price (MSP) in the country should be made in favor of pulses.
Counted reasons – why there will be no adverse effect
The member of NITI Aayog said, “COVID-19 infection started spreading in rural areas in May. Agricultural activities remain very limited in May. Especially activities related to agricultural land. ”He said that no crop is sown and harvested in May. Only a few vegetables and ‘off season’ crops are cultivated.
Chand said agricultural activities are at their peak by the month of March or mid-April. After that they decrease. These activities again gain momentum with the arrival of Monsoon. He said that in such a situation, even if the availability of labor remains low from May to mid-June, then it will not affect the agriculture sector.
Why the country could not become self-sufficient in pulses?
Asked why India has not yet become self-sufficient in pulses production, Chand said there is a need to increase the area under irrigation. This will bring a lot of change on the production and price stability front. He said, “Our subsidy policy, price policy and technology policy in India are heavily tilted in favor of rice, wheat, sugarcane. In such a situation, I believe that we need to make our procurement and Minimum Support Price (MSP) policy friendly to pulses.
Regarding the growth of the agriculture sector, Chand said that the growth rate of the sector will be more than three percent in 2021-22. The growth rate of the agriculture sector in the last financial year was 3.6 percent. At the same time, there was a decline of 7.3 percent in the Indian economy.
Also read: After Mango, Litchi, Chikoo and Jackfruit, India started exporting Jamun, the first consignment going from UP to UK
.
