Govt offering end-to-end support to farmers across value chain: Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the government is extending end-to-end support to farmers across the entire agricultural value chain from improving soil health and irrigation to ensuring fair prices and market access, underlining the government’s commitment to raising rural incomes.

Speaking after inaugurating a Farmers’ Training and Common Facility Centre in Raichur, Karnataka, Sitharaman said the Centre’s initiatives span all stages of farm activity.

This ranges from ensuring price support and expanding markets, to improving soil and water management, offering risk cover, and enhancing farmers’ access to working capital, the minister said. These comprehensive measures are aimed at delivering long-term income security and resilience for India’s farming community, the minister said.

MSP hikes

Sitharaman said that a key pillar of the government’s pro-farmer strategy has been the steady increase in minimum support price (MSP).

Over the past decade, pulses have seen a substantial rise in the support price. The same is true for tur (arhar), which has increased by 86%—from ₹4,300 per quintal in 2013-14 to ₹8,000 in 2025-26, the minister said.

Moong has seen a sharper increase of 95%, rising from ₹4,500 to nearly ₹8,800 per quintal, while urad has risen by 81% to reach ₹7,800 per quintal. Paddy, a staple crop, also recorded a rise in support price from ₹1,310 to ₹2,369 per quintal for the common variety, the minister said.

To enhance market access and transparency in pricing, the government has strengthened the digital infrastructure through the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) platform. Currently, 1,473 mandis are integrated into the platform, connecting 1.79 crore farmers and 2.59 lakh traders. Cumulative trade recorded on the platform has crossed ₹4.01 trillion, empowering farmers with better price discovery and wider reach.

Recognising the importance of healthy soil and sustainable water use, the government has focused on building a robust foundation for production. Under the soil health card scheme, 24.74 crore cards have been issued to farmers, and 8,272 soil testing laboratories have been set up across the country. More than ₹1,700 crore has been allocated to states to support this initiative.

Also, under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), over ₹93,000 crore has been earmarked for irrigation and water conservation projects across states for the 2021-26 period, aimed at increasing coverage and efficiency of irrigation systems, the minister explained.

The scheme that protects farmers from the vagaries of weather, natural calamities and yield fluctuations, the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), has disbursed ₹1.75 trillion to affected farmers, the minister said.

Under the income support scheme Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), the government has disbursed over ₹3.69 trillion to farmers nationwide, the minister said.

An official statement released on Thursday stated that the minister had interacted with interns of the Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS) at Hampi in Karnataka on Wednesday. The interns were from companies including Infosys, IBM, TCS, Tata Consumer Products and Bharat Electronics Ltd.