Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday (15 May) began her third tranche of announcements pertaining to the Rs 20 lakh crore economic package under Atmanirbhar Bharat vision.

She said that today's announcements would be focused on agriculture and allied services, like fisheries and food processing.

The FM said a new scheme is being introduced to offer lower interest rates to dairy cooperatives.

The interest subvention scheme will continue and will put additional Rs 5,000 crore in the hands of two crore farmers, the FM said.

Milk was being thrown on streets since consumers were unable to buy it during lockdown. During this time, 560 lakh litre/day milk was procured by cooperatives in which farmers were paid Rs 4,100 crore.

The government announced Rs 15,000 crore for dairy infrastructure, besides a livestock development programme.

The Finance Minister said the government made Rs 74,300-crore Minimum Support Price (MSP) purchases during lockdown and Rs 18,700 crore was transferred to farmers' bank accounts.

She also said that National Animal Disease Control Programme has been launched with total outlay of Rs. 13,343 crores for 100% vaccination of cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat and pig population in India.