She also directed NABARD to encourage farmers to enhance the area covered under Millets, and to protect the returns of farmers who are already growing millets
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked NABARD to encourage farmers to shift towards more remunerative but less water-guzzling crops, especially millets, pulses and oilseeds.
In a review meeting of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Sitharaman advised the agri-finance institution to work towards ensuring efficiency and outcomes at the ground level with improvement in rural income as the top priority.
With production and marketing of 'Shree Anna' a national priority in the ongoing International Year of Millets 2023, she also directed NABARD to encourage farmers to enhance the area covered under Millets, and to protect the returns of farmers who are already growing millets.
"The Finance Minister emphasised on concerted efforts to sensitize farmers to shift towards more remunerative but less water-guzzling crops, especially millets, pulses and oilseeds," a Finance Ministry tweet said.
The minister also directed NABARD to facilitate the aggregation of organic producers by Farmer Producer Organisations, with a focus on northeast states, besides taking steps to augment rural credit.
In another tweet, the Finance Ministry said a 'Chintan Shivir' was organised on June 17 to expedite the implementation of the projects funded from the Union Budget and flagship schemes.
Deliberations were held on the implementation of projects and Capex funded from the Budget and central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) internal and extra-budgetary resources, flagship and large schemes and the Budget announcements.
The objective of the 'Chintan Shivir' was to share insights and learnings on the successful implementation of projects and schemes, discuss challenges and help ministries draw up a roadmap for timely and effective delivery on-ground, the ministry tweeted.