Agriculture Current Affairs for IBPS AFO, NABARD, FCI, UPSC

If you are a Graduate in Agriculture Stream and preparing for various competitive exams, then Current Affairs play a vital role in your preparation. Almost all competitive exams today contain questions related to the latest current updates. So it’s very essential that apart from the academic knowledge you must be aware of current issues and developments in the Agriculture sector. Good hold over Agriculture current updates will not only help you in clearing Agriculture related competitive exams but will also give you an edge in the interview over your peers.

ixamBee always believed in nurturing every aspirant’s need as opportunity should not be a luxury but a prerequisite. So here we have compiled some important Agriculture related current affairs of the past 2 months so that you clear all the upcoming competitive exams with flying colours.

Some Important Agriculture Current Affairs

• To empower women and provide them with a level playing opportunity in every field, the Central Government has decided to come up with a Central Institute for Women in Agriculture (ICAR-CIWA) at Bhubaneswar.

• Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP )– a sub-component of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission, came into operation in 2011. It seeks to improve and enhance women’s status in the Agriculture sector. MKSP aims to capacitate smallholders to adopt climate resilient sustainable agroecology techniques.

• To ensure adequate credit flow, an annual target of credit flow to the agriculture sector has been set. The agriculture credit flow target has been set at Rs. 16.50 lakh crore for FY 2021-22 i.e. an increase of 1.5 lakh crore from the F.Y. 2020-21.

• In 2018-19 an “Innovation and Agri-Entrepreneurship Development” under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY-RAFTAAR) waslaunched to promote innovation and agri-entrepreneurship and nurture the incubation ecosystem. 

• 646 start-ups in the agriculture and allied sectors have been supported under the “Innovation and Agri-Entrepreneurship Development” programme so far. 

• Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund or FIDF, with a total fund size of Rs 7522.48 crore aims to achieve a sustainable growth of 8-9 % to augment the country’s fish production to about 20 million tonnes by 2022-23. 

• Launched in 2017, Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund or DIDF aim to create/ modernize the milk processing, chilling and value addition infrastructure in the form of a loan with interest subvention of 2.5% (with effect from 11.09.2020).

• DIDF funding is made available by (NABARD) through National Dairy Development Board (NDDB)/ National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC). 

• Under Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure, the Government will provide subsidies at the rate of 25% and 33.33% on the capital cost of the project based on the category of eligible beneficiaries. It is a scheme to provide assistance for the construction/ renovation of godowns/ warehouses in rural areas.

Some Agriculture Related Schemes

• PM KISAN Scheme – Launched in 2019, to provide income support to all farmer’s families across the country. The PM KISAN scheme aims to provide a payment of Rs. 6000/- per year, in three 4-monthly instalments of Rs. 2000/- to the farmer’s families, subject to certain exclusions relating to higher-income groups. NIC also designed the PM-KISAN Mobile App in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to provide all updates within a fraction of seconds.

Note – some similar schemes by states- Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana- MP; The Rythu Bandhu scheme- Telangana; Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA)- Odisha.

• Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana or PMFBY– Launched in 2016 from Kharif crop, it focuses to provide better insurance coverage to crops for risk mitigation. PMFBY stabilizes farmers’ income to ensure their continuance in farming. Currently, it includes Kharif, Rabi and other horticulture crops. The premium rates are – 2% Kharif, 1.5% Rabi & 5% for annual horticulture/perennial crops of the sum assured.

• Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana or PM-KMY – A government scheme to provide a social security net for Small and Marginal Farmers (SMF) and support them in the event of the consequent loss of livelihood. All farmers with cultivable land holding up to 2 hectares in the age group of 18-40 years are eligible for enrollment. Under this Scheme, a minimum fixed pension of Rs. 3000/- will be provided to the eligible small and marginal farmers on attaining the age of 60 years.

• Interest Subvention Scheme – To provide relief to farmers affected by natural calamities, the Government in association with NABARD provides interest subvention of 2% on short-term crop loans up to Rs. 3.00 lakh. Presently, the loan is available to farmers at an interest rate of 4% per annum on prompt repayment.

• Kisan Credit Card or KCC – The Kisan Credit Card was introduced in 1998,  so that farmers may use them to readily purchase agriculture inputs like seeds, fertilizers etc and draw cash for their production needs. The collateral fee loan limit for short term agri-credit has been raised from Rs. 1.00 lakh to Rs. 1.60 lakh. Also to make the process swift and smooth, KCC will be issued within 14 days from the receipt of the completed application.

• Soil Health Card – “Swasth Dharaa. Khet Haraa.” – Healthy Earth. Green Farm. Soil Health Card or SHC is a Central Government scheme promoted by the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, to rationalize the use of fertilizers by farmers. It assesses the current status of soil health and its overtime use, to determine changes in soil health affected by land management. ICAR has suggested 12 parameters as essential for soil health management in India. They are pH, electrical conductivity (EC),.Organic Carbon(OC), available N, P, K (Macro-nutrient), S(Secondary-nutrient)  and micronutrients (Zn, Cu, Fe, Mn & B).

• Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana – The Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana or PMMSY was launched in September 2020 to harness the potential of the fisheries sector sustainably and inclusively. Implemented by the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying under the Department of Fisheries, the scheme is said to invest ₹20050 crores in the fisheries sector for 5 years with effect from the financial year 2020-21. 

• Har Med Par Ped – A Mission on Agroforestry by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, was launched in 2016-17 to encourage tree plantation on farmland along with crops so that farmers have additional income by making their farming systems more climate-resilient and adaptive. The scheme is being implemented in 20 States with a funding pattern of 60:40 between the Centre and State Government for States, 90:10 for NE and Hilly states and 100% for UTs and National Level Agencies. With the amendment of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, Bamboo has been removed from the definition of trees and a restructured National Bamboo Mission has been launched in 2018 to promote bamboo plantation.

• National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) scheme – National Agriculture Market or eNAM launched under the aegis of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, is a pan-India electronic trading portal to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities. The launch of e-NAM initiative provides farmers with a transparent and competitive online trading platform. Currently, e-NAM covers 18 states and 03 UTs. As per the Budget 2021-22 announcement, 1000 more mandis will be integrated with e-NAM.

These are some of the short synopsis that can be fruitful for your Agriculture related exams like IBPS AFO, NABARD, FCI etc. If you want more such current info you can subscribe to our AgriBee channel, where experts from the Agriculture field come out with all recent updates and development from time to time. You can also join the AgriBee Telegram community and enhance your knowledge base.

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