Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, stated that the government is focused on ensuring food security, increasing farmers' income, and providing nutritious food to the people. Responding to a discussion in the Lok Sabha on the grants requested by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare for 2026-27, he said that in 2013-14, the agricultural budget was only 21,933 crore rupees, which has now increased to over 1.30 lakh crore rupees. Mr. Chouhan stated that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government has been continuously working to increase agricultural production. He noted that there is record production in both food grains and horticulture. He informed the House that foodgrain production rose from 265 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 357 million tonnes. Similarly, in the horticulture sector, production increased from 277 million tonnes to 370 million tonnes. In addition, record production has also been seen in the production of paddy, wheat, maize, groundnut, and soybean.
Mr. Chouhan stated that India has surpassed China in rice production and has become the number one country in the world in terms of rice production. He said that efforts have been made to reduce production costs to ensure farmers receive a remunerative price for their produce. Speaking about the PM-Kisan scheme, the Minister said that under the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, 4.27 lakh crore rupees has been transferred directly into farmers' accounts in 22 installments. This scheme has brought significant changes to the lives of small and marginal farmers. Regarding fertilizers, the Agriculture Minister said that the government has continuously increased fertilizer subsidies. He stated that, for the benefit of farmers, the prices of Urea and DAP have been kept stable, and currently, a bag of urea is available at 266 rupees. He informed that the Fertilizer subsidy, which was only 18,460 crore rupees during 2005-06, has now increased to over 1.77 lakh crore rupees. He also stated that in 2014, the agricultural credit was 7.30 lakh crore rupees, which has now increased to 28 lakh crore through institutional loans. He said the government has made several important reforms in the Kisan Credit Card (KCC), extending its benefits not only to farming but also to the animal husbandry, dairy, and fisheries sector.
Regarding MSP, Mr. Chouhan said that the UPA government had not provided a Minimum Support Price (MSP) at 50 percent above the cost of production to farmers. He stated that in 2019, it was the Narendra Modi government that decided that MSP would be decided by adding a 50 percent profit margin over the cost.
Comparing foodgrain procurement, Mr. Chouhan said that during the UPA rule, only 45 crore metric tonnes of paddy were procured, whereas the NDA government procured more than 84 crore metric tonnes. During the UPA period, the procurement of pulses was only 6 lakh metric tonnes, whereas it reached around two crore metric tonnes during the Modi government.
The Minister said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed new seed varieties to boost production, and it has developed around 3,356 new varieties of seeds.
Earlier, initiating the discussion, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring of the Congress said that the farmers of the country are not just foodgrain producers but are also the strongest base of the country's economy and food security. He said that farmers are demanding a legal guarantee for the price of their produce and urged the government to ensure a guaranteed Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farmers.
Konda Vishweshwar Reddy of the BJP said that agriculture is the country's cultural identity and stability. He said that since 2014, the agricultural growth in India has been phenomenal compared to other sectors. Mr. Reddy said that rice production has increased by 40 per cent in the country. He also highlighted that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several measures have been taken to support the farmer, promoting organic farming and increasing agricultural exports. He said that the budget for the Agriculture Ministry during the Congress rule was only 22 thousand crore rupees, which has now been increased to 1.4 lakh crore rupees. Mr. Reddy said that the MSPs of various crops have also increased during the NDA rule.