SC committee, NABARD discuss steps to ease farmers' woes
One of the main stakeholders in improving farmers' conditions, NABARD is an apex development bank to promote sustainable and equitable agriculture and rural development.
The meeting was held at the committee's office in Panchkula and attended by Shaji KV, chairman of NABARD.
Formed in September 2024 to resolve farmers' issues, the committee, headed by former Punjab and Haryana high court judge Nawab Singh, questioned NABARD over a host of issues: Farmers Producer Organisations (FPOs); enhancing farmer income and cold-chain infrastructure.
NABARD officials told the committee that the strategy to enhance farmers' income was rooted in financial inclusion, agri-value chain development, sustainable infrastructure and livelihood diversification.
The committee is reported to have confronted the NABARD, questioning, 'Why not put the policy on ease of doing farming on par with the ease of doing business.'
When the committee wanted to know the concrete steps relating to farming distress, NABARD said it had been promoting as many as 7,400 FPOs across the country. On this, the committee quipped: 'What is the outcome of promoting FPOs given various challenges.'
The committee highlighted that ground reports suggested that many FPOs were lying defunct and there was a need to revisit the programme.
'Over the past few months, various stakeholders have, through representations before the committee, mentioned large-scale failure of FPOs. We asked the officials from NABARD regarding any plans to revisit the scheme,' one of the committee members told HT.
NABARD, however, said it was a workable model for small and marginal farmers amid the challenges of effective implementation at the ground level.
'NABARD has promoted over 7,400 FPOs involving 27. 53 lakh farmers — 82% of whom are small/marginal — ensuring better market access and income. Banks disbursed ₹1.96 lakh crore under the SHG-Bank Linkage Programme in FY2025 benefiting 17 crore rural households with affordable credit,' said an official of NABARD during the meeting.
We are inviting all stakeholders: Committee
The committee claimed that they had been doing everything they could and inviting all stakeholders over the past few months to address the issue of farmer distress.
The committee members, agricultural scientist Devinder Sharma; former Haryana DGP BS Sandhu; economist Dr RS Ghuman and member-secretary Dr Amit Kumar Agrawal; were present in the meeting.
This panel of experts was constituted by a Supreme Court bench, headed by justice Surya Kant, to recommend comprehensive reforms in the agrarian sector with the aim of improving farmer welfare.
Earlier in May, the committee had also held discussions with the Kerala agriculture minister to examine state's fruit and vegetables support programme, and the concept of Farmers' Debt Relief Commission.
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