India becomes largest producer and exporter of sugar
NEW DELHI — Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has said that the farmers are getting more money directly in their accounts through the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme.
He said the use of technology has eliminated the middlemen, brought transparency, and benefited the farmers. He said expenditure on Minimum Support Price has increased manifold in recent years which directly benefited the farmers.
Briefing media in New Delhi today, Tomar highlighted the measures taken by the government to ensure food availability, create robust mechanisms for the procurement of foodgrains, and effective implementation of the ‘One Nation One Ration’ card initiative in the country. The Minister said three lakh 81 thousand crore rupees have reached the accounts of farmers through the DBT scheme.
He said 80 crore people have been provided free foodgrains which helped the poor to deal with the effects of the Covid pandemic. He said three lakh 90 thousand crore rupees have been spent on Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana.
On MSP’s expenditure, Tomar said, one lakh six thousand crore rupees have been spent in 2014–15 which subsequently increased to two lakh 75 thousand crore rupees in 2021–22.
The Minister said more than one lakh 14 thousand crore rupees dues of sugarcane farmers have been cleared out of the total dues of more than one lakh 18 thousand crore rupees for the season 2021–22.
He informed that India has become the largest producer and exporter of sugar. He said the export of sugar has subsequently increased in recent years. He said the total export was 6.8 lakh metric tonnes in 2017–18 which reached 110 lakh metric tonnes in 2021–22.
On the procurement of millets, Tomar said, seven states have made the procurement of 13 lakh tonnes.