Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Wednesday called for strict compliance of exemptions given to agriculture & alliedsectors and directed setting up of control rooms for proper monitoring and facilitating farmers during lockdown. The Minister has asked States to ensure that farmers don’t face any problems in shipping exportable items, which will boost farmers’ income during the lockdown.

Tomar held a video conference with senior officers to review steps for facilitating farming activities during lockdown.

“We have exempted all kinds of harvesting and sowing activities from lockdown to ensure farmers don’t suffer and lose out during the peak harvesting season. We have opened interstate transportation to facilitate seamless transport of agri products for intra as well as international sale,” Tomar told officials in a meeting.

The Minister said the sowing of crops will begin soon and there should be no shortage of seeds and fertilisers. Exports of foodgrains and Agricultural products should also not be affected, he added.

The Government has exempted from the lockdown the operations of agencies engaged in procurement of agriculture products, including MSP operations; ‘Mandis’ operated by the Agriculture Produce Market Committee or as notified by the State Government; Farming operations by farmers and farm workers in the field.

The Government has allowed traders and bulk purchasers to buy agricultural products directly from farm gates through farmer producer organisations and Government-owned warehouses, bypassing mandis, to ease procurement and transportation of agricultural goods.

The Centre has identified 21 agricultural products, including honey, potatoes, grapes, soya beans and groundnuts, which Indian can export, taking advantage of the trade restrictions against Chinese goods. In 2018-19, the latest year for which data is available, India’s agricultural exports stood at US $38 billion.

"The Minister said efforts should be made so that farmers can sell produce near their farmlands, besides ensuring that farm produce is transported without hindrance within State and inter-state," said the Agriculture Ministry in a statement.