In the third tranche of Rs 20 lakh-crore package announced by the Prime Minister, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday came up with an 11-point plan for farmers' welfare, fisheries and food processing.The third tranche of measures being announced today focuses on agriculture and allied activities, including fisheries, said the Finance Minister. The government announced Rs 1 lakh crore for aggregators and startups in agriculture sector, including warehouse and cold chains. The benefit will also go to farmers' cooperatives.
The government also announced Rs 10,000 crore for cluster-based manufacturing for nutritional products in which 2 lakh MFI will benefit, for example, Kashmir can have 'Kesar' and Bihar can have 'Makhana' clusters."India is the largest milk producer, largest jute and pulses producer, second largest in sugarcane, cotton, groundnut, fruits, vegetables and fisheries and third in cereals. Indian farmer has really endured and made sure that he would give us the highest yield, said Sitharaman. The Finance Minister said it goes to the credit of the Indian farmer who has always stood up to various challenges and has made India reach certain global benchmarks.
( With inputs from IANS )