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For the sake of farmers, the Centre has authorized programs worth more than Rs. 3.70 lakh crore. The PM Programme for Restoration, Awareness, Generation, Nourishment, and Amelioration of Mother Earth (PM-PRANAM) program seeks to improve farmers' well-being, revitalize soil productivity, and guarantee food security and environmental sustainability. The program would provide financial support to the states that encourage alternative fertilizers and limit chemical fertilizers. With a cost of Rs. 3.68 lakh crore, it will also extend the current urea subsidy program for another three years, concluding in March 2025. Additionally, Rs. 1,451 crores were cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), which is presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
For the season 2023–2024, the government has raised the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for sugarcane to Rs. 315 per quintal. The FRP has premiums for higher and lower recovery rates, respectively. Anurag Thakur, minister of information and broadcasting, emphasized the government's emphasis on agriculture and farmer support.
Following the Cabinet meeting, Mansukh Mandaviya, the Union's minister for chemicals and fertilizers, announced the decision, saying, "The Cabinet decided to extend the urea subsidy plan. In order to provide subsidies for urea for three years, from 2022–2023 to 2024–2025, the Cabinet approved 3.6 lakh crores. In order to address the problem of soil sulphur shortage and reduce input costs for the farmers, it also introduced sulphur-coated urea (urea gold).
He stressed the government's dedication to environmentally friendly farming and the support of locally produced urea.
"The goal of the program is to guarantee that urea will always be available to farmers at the same price of Rs. 242 for a bag weighing 45 kg, excluding taxes and neem coating fees. The urea subsidy scheme, which guarantees a steady supply of urea to farmers at a fixed price, was authorized, he noted, and Rs. 3,68,676.7 crore had been pledged for it over the course of three years.
The administration has prioritized agriculture and farmers, and the Prime Minister has always been with 'annadata'. As a result, the Cabinet boosted the FRP of sugarcane to Rs. 315 per quintal for 2023–24, up from Rs. 305 per quintal and Rs. 210 per quintal in the previous seasons, according to Anurag Thakur, minister of communications and broadcasting.
About 3,353 lakh tonnes of sugarcane worth Rs. 1,11,366 crores have been purchased by sugar mills in the current 2022–23 marketing year. The mills purchased sugarcane for Rs. 57,104 crores in 2013–14. The minister emphasized that "under the Modi government, there are no protests from cane farmers over unpaid dues."
According to an official statement, the Cabinet approved the FRP of sugarcane at Rs. 315 per quintal for a baseline recovery rate of 10.25 percent for the sugar season 2023–24 (October–September). "It has also been approved to provide a premium of Rs. 3.07 per quintal for each 0.1% increase in recovery over and above 10.25 percent and a reduction in FRP by Rs. 3.07 per quintal for every 0.1% decrease in recovery," it stated.
