Raichur (Karnataka), October 16 (IANS). Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday assured full assistance to farmers to increase their agricultural income at the inauguration of the Farmers Training and Common Facility Center and new Agro Processing Unit in Karnataka’s Raichur district.
Addressing the gathering, he highlighted initiatives like Soil Health Card, fertilizers, financial assistance and increased MSP for food grains and pulses.
Farmers will benefit from the Farmers Training and Common Facility Center in Raichur. This will help farmers get higher prices for agricultural products, link producers to markets, empower women, improve the quality and shelf-life of agricultural products, and help in training and capacity building of farmers.
Raichur district is one of the major pulse production areas of Karnataka and about 80,000 metric tonnes of pigeon pea and 34,000 metric tonnes of gram are cultivated here annually.
The Finance Minister said, “This huge production base will contribute to strengthening the pulses value chain. The new processing unit set up under this scheme has the capacity to process 133 MT of arhar, 100 MT of gram and 76 MT of mixed pulses per year. This will provide better prices to farmers and reduce dependence on middlemen.”
He further said that in the long term, the objective of this venture is to empower farmers, strengthen farmer producer organizations and promote overall rural development by establishing a sustainable and market-oriented pulses industry ecosystem.
The scheme enhances the market value of pulses by promoting the production of pigeon pea, gram and mixed pulses, while also creating sustainable livelihood opportunities for self-help groups and rural entrepreneurs.
“With a vision to make the agriculture ecosystem of Raichur district more robust and stable, this scheme is a strong step towards enhancing the value chain for farmers, enhancing income and holistic development of rural enterprises in the future through innovation and collaboration,” the Finance Minister said.
Earlier, Finance Minister Sitharaman interacted with interns of the Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme (PMIS) in Hampi, Karnataka. The session was attended by over 60 interns from across the state along with representatives from key partner companies such as Infosys, MSPL, IBM, TCS, Tata Consumer Products, Bharat Electronics Limited, Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals, HAL, NMDC and Honeywell Technology Solutions.
The Union Minister interacted with the interns and learned about their experience under PMIS. He interacted with the PMIS interns to provide guidance and encouragement for their professional journey.
–IANS
SKT/