Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting today to deliberate on the issues and reforms required in Agriculture sector. Special emphasis was given on reforms in agriculture marketing, management of marketable surplus, access of farmers to institutional credit and freeing agriculture sector of various restrictions.

Prime Minister laid special emphasis on technological intervention in the agriculture sector in order to unlock the entire value chain benefitting the farmers in the country. It was also decided to further strengthen the role of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) to bring vibrancy in agrarian economy, transparency in agriculture trade and enable maximum benefits to the farmers. Prime Minister also made a call to boost Brand India and stated that in order to increase agriculture commodity export in the country, commodity specific Boards and Councils needs to be set up.

The meeting laid focus on making strategic interventions in the existing marketing eco-system and bringing appropriate reforms. Concessional credit flow, special Kisan Credit Card drive and facilitation of inter and intra-state trade of agriculture produce were few of the other important issues discussed in the meet. Development of e-NAM into an integrated platform to enable e-commerce was also discussed.

Various possibilities to bring up uniform statutory framework in the country to infuse capital and technology in agrarian economy were also explored. Prime Minister emphasised on introducing new measures to protect the interest of small and marginal farmers. Special focus was also given to making Essential Commodities Act compatible with present times to incentivise large scale private investment in post-production agriculture infrastructure.