In the backdrop of visible farmers' ire towards the ruling BJP during the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, especially in Punjab and Haryana, the budget offers a farmer-centric approach. From promoting natural farming to increase profit on agricultural output to extending digital public infrastructure (DPI) in the sector, the budget provisions give an impression that the government plans to handhold the farmers in transitioning to newer pastures in the farm sector.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while earmarking Rs 1.52 lakh crore for agriculture and allied sector, said in her speech that in the next two years, 1 crore farmers across the country will be initiated into natural farming supported by certification and branding. “Implementation will be through scientific institutions and willing gram panchayats; 10,000 need-based bio-input resource centres will also be established.” Last year, the agriculture ministry had got Rs. 1.25 lakh crore.
She added that the implementation of the digital public infrastructure will be facilitated in agriculture for the coverage of farmers and their lands in three years. “During this time, digital crop survey for Kharif using the DPI will be taken up in 400 districts. The details of 6 crore farmers and their lands will be brought into the farmer and land registries. Further, the issuance of Jan Samarth-based Kisan Credit Cards will be enabled in five states,” she said.
The initiatives are part of the ‘Productivity and resilience in agriculture’ priority of the government that will undertake a comprehensive review of the agriculture research setup to bring the focus on raising productivity and developing climate-resilient varieties. As many as 109 new high-yielding and climate-resilient varieties of 32 field and horticulture crops will be released for cultivation. In addition, production, storage and marketing of pulses and oilseeds will be strengthened to augment self-sufficiency in line with Atmanirbhar Bharat.
The finance minister said that the farmer-producer organizations, cooperatives and start-ups for vegetable supply chains including collection, storage, and marketing will also be promoted. “Our government will bring out a National Cooperation Policy for systematic, orderly and all-round development of the cooperative sector. Fast-tracking growth of rural economy and generation of employment opportunities on a large scale will be the policy goal,” she said in her speech.