PM interacts with farmers across 600 districts via video conferencing, assures double income by 2022PM interacts with farmers via video conferencing, assures double income by 2022

He said the income of farmers in the country increased, and also doubled in many cases, due to various initiatives taken by the central government.

New Delhi: Amid the political upheaval in Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday interacted with farmers of 600 districts via video-conferencing on Narenrda Modi App and assured them of double income by 2022. He said the income of farmers in the country increased, and also doubled in many cases, due to various initiatives taken by the central government. Modi then asked them about their success stories of increase in the production and the income. "We are working towards ensuring that the income of our hardworking farmers doubles by 2022. For that, we are facilitating proper assistance wherever required. We have faith in the farmers. They are ready to take risks and bring results," said Modi. He expressed his happiness when one of the Chhattisgarh farmers told him that his income had increased six-seven times in just three years. Modi said his government focused on major four points to achieve the target of doubling farm income. "First, we are trying to bring down the input cost as much as possible. Second, farmers should get remunerative prices. Third is how to minimise wastage. And the fourth is to offer alternative sources of income," Modi said. Modi said the government had ensured remunerative prices to farmers by announcing Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the notified crops in the Union Budget. "The input cost for MSP will include family labour, expenses on cattle, machines, seeds, fertilisers, irrigation along with land revenue by the state governments, rent for the land on lease and interest on working capital," said Modi. Modi also said foodgrain output had gone up to over 280 million tonnes in 2017-18 from average 250 million tonnes during 2010-2014. He had tweeted yesterday to share details of the video call.

India’s hardworking farmers are India's pride. Tomorrow at 9:30 AM, I invite you to join an interaction with our farmers. It would be wonderful to hear about the accomplishments of our Annadatas. Join the interaction via the ‘Narendra Modi Mobile App’ or watch it on @DDNewsLive.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 19, 2018

(With inputs from IANS)