Attending the India Sustainability Conclave, Agriculture Minister?Narendra Singh Tomar, on Friday, blamed the UPA government for not giving adequate priority to the farm sector and said the Centre in the last eight years has taken steps to empower farmers.

The minister stressed on all-around development that should bring about positive change in the lives of the most vulnerable sections of the society. Tomar said that India being an agricultural country, the role of farming is important.

?"If we move away from the agriculture sector, even if we have money, agricultural products will not be available." At the time of India's independence, the contribution of the agriculture sector to GDP was 50 percent, which gradually decreased.

He pointed out that eighty-six percent are small farmers, for whom it is necessary to adopt technology into farming, increase production quality at par with global standards and also make it a remunerative avenue.?Tomar said the agriculture sector is being upgraded through technology like drones, digital agriculture missions and promoting private investment, etc.

?“During the previous governments, agriculture did not get the required priority and the attitude towards agricultural development remained subdued, due to which the income of the farmers did not increase and adequate resources were not available to them, but now under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, farmers are being empowered,” he said.

?Tomar highlighted that Rs 6,000 is credited every year into the bank accounts of 11.5 crore farmers under the PM-KISAN scheme. “It is the largest program in the world. So far, more than Rs 2 lakh crore has been given to the farmers, without any pilferage," he said adding that the entire Rs 6,000 is directly deposited in the bank accounts of farmers.

?Tomar said several concrete steps have been taken as the promotion of agriculture startups, distribution of KCC, and Rs16 lakh are crore worth of short-term loans. He also said the farmers or the peasant should not be looked down upon, rather this skilled labor- manpower is the biggest strength of our country.