FM urges efforts to encourage farmers to cultivate millets, pulses

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday called for concerted efforts to sensitise farmers to shift towards more remunerative but less water-guzzling crops like millets, pulses and oilseeds, and enhancing the digital capabilities of rural financial institutions.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday called for concerted efforts to sensitise farmers to shift towards more remunerative but less water-guzzling crops like millets, pulses and oilseeds, and enhance the digital capabilities of rural financial institutions.

Ms. Sitharaman, who was chairing a review of India’s apex rural development financial institution National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development or NABARD along with top officials from the Department of Financial Services, advised it to work towards ensuring efficiency and outcomes at the ground level with improvement in rural income as top priority.

“With production and marketing of ShreeAnna as a national priority in the ongoing International Year of Millets, the Finance Minister directed NABARD to encourage farmers to enhance the area covered under Millets, and to protect the returns of farmers who are already growing millets,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement after the meeting.

The FM also asked NABARD to facilitate the aggregation of organic producers by Farmer Producer Organisations, with a focus on North-East states. She also emphasised the need to improve the digital capabilities of Rural Financial Institutions, including regional rural banks “on priority” for augmenting meaningful financial inclusion.

NABARD chairman Shaji KV was also urged to take steps to augment rural credit by “correcting regional imbalances for better productivity in rural areas including in the non-farm sector”.