Accord top priority to farmers, agriculture during lockdown: Vice President

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday asked the Centre and the State governments to accord top priority to farmers and agriculture during the lockdown and advised them to facilitate the smooth conduct of farming activities and transportation of agri-produce during this period.

During an interaction with Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, the Vice President appreciated various measures taken by the Agriculture Ministry to protect the farm sector.

According to an official release, the Vice President laid stress on safeguarding the interests of both producers and consumers.

"Producers in agriculture are not orgsed and often their views go unheard. So it is the duty of the governments to protect their interests," he said.

Naidu said that though it is mainly the duty of the states, the Centre should guide and help them from time to time in this regard.

Calling for more focus on perishable agro-produce such as fruits and vegetables, the Vice President said that special care must be taken of storage and marketing of these perishables.

He also suggested tweaking of the APMC Act suitably so as to facilitate the purchase of farm produce directly from the farmers so that nobody is forced to go to the mandi.

This will help in ensuring adequate availability of fruits, vegetables and other agri-commodities to the consumers, he said.

Laying stress on the need to ensure smooth transportation of farm produce, the Vice President asked the authorities to ensure that there is no hindrance during such transportation.

The release said that the agriculture Minister explained in detail steps taken to safeguard the interests of the farmers.

According to the release, Tomar said that Union Agriculture Ministry was working in close coordination with the states and UTs and assured the Vice President that the Government will take all necessary steps to help the farmers in this hour of crises.

( With inputs from ANI )

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