Sitharaman directs NABARD to make rural income improvement top priority

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday advised NABARD to work towards ensuring efficiency and outcomes at the ground level with improvement in rural income as top priority.

She said this while chairing a review meeting of NABARD’s functioning in the presence of its chairman, banking secretary and other senior officials of the Finance Ministry.

Sitharaman directed NABARD to facilitate the aggregation of organic producers by Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), with a focus on the Northeast states.

With production and marketing of millets as a national priority in the ongoing International Year of Millets 2023, Sitharaman directed NABARD to encourage farmers to enhance the area covered under millets and to protect the returns of farmers who are already growing them.