4                                     Agriculture
           AGRICULTURE plays a vital role in India’s economy. 54.6 per cent of the population is
      engaged in agriculture and allied activities (census 2011) and it contributes 17.4 per cent to the
      country’s Gross Value Added for the year 2016-17 (at current prices). Given the importance of
      agriculture sector, Government of India took several steps for its sustainable development. Steps
      have been taken to improve soil fertility on a sustainable basis through the soil health card
      scheme, to provide improved access to irrigation and enhanced water efficiency through Pradhan
      Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY), to support organic farming through Paramparagat
      Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and to support for creation of a unified national agriculture market
      to boost the income of farmers. Further, to mitigate risk in agriculture sector a new scheme
      “Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) was been launched for implementation from
      Kharif 2016.
           The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare (DAC&FW) is one of
      the three constituent departments of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, the other
      two being Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries (DAHD&F) and Department
      of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE).
      Relevant      Websites:     www.agriculture.gov.in     www.agricoop.nic.in        www.dare.nic.in
                           www.dahd.nic.in
      Production
           The normal spell of rainfall during monsoon 2016 and the various policy initiatives taken by
      the Government made it possible to achieve a broad-based record food grain production in the
      year 2016-17. As per the Fourth Advance Estimates for 2016-17, production of rice is estimated
      at a new record of 110.15 million tonnes. Rice production is 3.50 million tonnes higher than the
      previous record production of 106.65 million tonnes. The wheat production is higher by 6.10
      million tonnes as compared to the wheat production of 92.29 million tonnes in 2015-16. Further,
      production of coarse cereals is estimated at a new record level of 44.19 million tonnes. It is
      higher than the previous record production of 43.40 million tonnes achieved during 2010-11 by
      0.79 million tonnes and also higher by 5.67 million tonnes as compared to the production of
      38.52 million tonnes achieved during 2015-16.
      National Policy for Farmers
           Government of India approved the National Policy for Farmers (NPF) in 2007. Many of the
      provisions of the NPF are being operationalised through various schemes and programmes which
      are being implemented by different central government departments and ministries. For the
      operationalisation of the remaining provisions of the Policy, an Action Plan was finalized and
      circulated to the ministries/departments concerned, as well as to all states/ UTs for necessary
      follow-up action.
      Major Programmes