Section 2. The Budget allocation for Department of Agriculture has been increased by more than five times since

2. The Budget allocation for Department of Agriculture has been increased by more than five times since 2014 and this year one hundred twenty three lakh crore rupees are being spent on various schemes or programmes. Under the Soil Health Card Scheme, approximately twenty-two crore cards have been distributed to farmers which are aimed at enhancing farm productivity. Under another Scheme, one hundred six lakh crore rupees have been transferred directly to eleven crore farmers. To increase the bargaining power of small and marginal farmers, a Central Sector Scheme for formation and promotion of ten thousand farmer producer organisations with a budget of six thousand eight hundred sixty-five crore rupees has been launched. Risk mitigation for farmers has been ensured under the Bima Yojana. Since the launch of the said Yojana in 2016, claims of over one lakh crore rupees have been settled benefitting approximately eight crore eighty-three lakh claims of farmers. The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of one lakh crore rupees will promote investment in farm gate for post harvest infrastructure like warehouses, cold storages and community assets and the like. The agricultural marketing infrastructure has been modernised with the launch of National Agriculture Market, a pan-India virtual trading platform for transparent price discovery. The flow of credit for crop loans has been doubled since 2014 to sixteen lakh crore rupees. Allocation to Micro Irrigation has also been doubled. Farmers' welfare schemes and programmes such as natural farming, organic farming, Oil Palm Mission, Pulses Mission and Agriculture Mechanisation have been expanded. For the first time Minimum Sale Price has been fixed atleast 1.5 times of the cost of production, and procurement of oilseeds, pulses and cotton have also started, in addition to paddy and wheat.