New Delhi, May 30 (FN Agency) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that farmers of the country have achieved a record produce during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as the agricultural sector protected itself from the impact of the crisis to a great extent. Addressing the people in his monthly programme, “Man ki Baat’, he said that the farm sectors and farmers not only kept themselves safe, but the sector also progressed and moved forward.
“Do you know that even in this pandemic, our farmers have achieved record produce? The farmers produced record output and this time the country went on to procure a record amount of crops. In many places, farmers have got more than the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for mustard”, Mr Modi said. “Due to the record food grain production, our country has been able to provide support to every person and today, 800 million underprivileged people are being provided free ration in this hour of crisis,” he added. Talking about farming, the Prime Minister said farmers were doing wonders in many areas such as Agartala where they are producing jackfruit in large quantity and this time the produce was exported to London.
Referring to the ‘Shahi Litchi’ of Bihar, he said that the Government gave GI Tag to ‘Shahi Litchi’ in 2018 so that its identity could be reinforced and the farmers can get more benefits. This time the ‘Shahi Litchi’ was also exported to London, he added. Referring to the vast variety of flavours and products right from East to West, North to South in our country, Mr Modi said “You must definitely have heard about the mangoes of Vizianagaram in South India. Now who wouldn’t like to eat this mango? Therefore, now the Kisan Rail is ferrying hundreds of tons of Vizianagaram mangoes to Delhi”, he stated. “The people of Delhi and North India will get to eat Vizianagaram mangoes, and the farmers of Vizianagaram will earn well. The Kisan Rail has so far transported nearly two lakh tonnes of produce,” the Prime Minister said, and added that now the farmers are able to send fruits, vegetables, grains to other remote parts of the country at a very low cost.