The minister also assured that the government will ensure availability of fertilisers despite the ongoing disruptions caused by the West Asia crisis. The government is working on diversifying incomes of smallholder farmers by encouraging farmers to take up allied opportunities such as livestock keeping, bee keeping, diversifying towards cash crops, increasing productivity per hectare by using drip irrigation, Chouhan said, adding that this will help steer the country towards its goal of Viksit Bharat.
It has issued over 9 crore farmer IDs to open access to credit, insurance and farming-related advisories easily accessible to cultivators, he added while speaking at The Times Now Summit. The Farmer ID in India (Kisan Pehchaan Patra) is a unique, Aadhaar-linked digital identification number under the AgriStack initiative. It streamlines access to subsidies, crop insurance, and agricultural services, particularly for the PM-KISAN scheme.
The minister explained that to improve farmers’ livelihoods, reliance on just one or two crops must be avoided. He encouraged cultivation of rice, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, fruits, flowers and medicinal plants along with livestock rearing.
This diversified model would help farmers increase their earnings and achieve financial stability, he said.