The lot of the farmer has improved little, with various states having cumulatively written off a whopping Rs 4.7 lakh crore of farm loans in the past one decade, which is 82 per cent of the industry-level bad loans.
The government is committed to doubling farmers’ income by 2022 and the budget aims to boost the income of people and enhance their purchasing power Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech said.
Announcing 16 action points plan for farmers, towards the goal of doubling farmers income she said that these measures are underlined by the FM for the agriculture sector.
Farm markets need to be liberalized, farming need to be made more competitive, handholding of farm-based activities need to be provided, sustainable cropping patterns and more technology needed, she said.
The government allocated 2.83 lakh crore rupees for agriculture and allied activities, irrigation and rural development in 2020-21 budget.
“We will encourage state governments who implement following model laws- Model Agricultural Land Leasing Act of 2016, Model Agricultural Produce and livestock and Marketing Act of 2017 and Model Agricultural Produce and Livestock contract farming and services promotion and facilitation Act of 2018,”she said.
Further, she proposed comprehensive measures for 100 water-stressed districts in the country. She added that agricultural credit target has been set up at 15 lakh crore.
“Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evem Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) to be expanded to provide 20 lakh farmers in setting up standalone solar pumps.
Farmers who have fallow or barren land will be helped to set up solar power generation units and also sell surplus power to the solar grid and also make living out of even barren land,” she said in the Budget speech.
We will encourage balanced use of all fertilizers, a necessary step to change the incentive regime which encourages excessive use of chemical fertilizers, the minister said.
Warehouses will be set up, viability gap funding to be provided to set up warehouses, she added.
The sixth action point will be village storage scheme run by SHGs, which will provide holding capacity for farmers, women in villages can regain their status as Dhaanya Lakshmi, said the minister.
“Indian railways will set up Kisan rail through PPP arrangement, for transportation of perishable goods,” she said.
Further, Krishi UDAN will be launched by Ministry of Civil Aviation on international and national routes, improving value realization in North East and tribal districts, she said.
For better marketing and export, supporting states will focus on one product for one district, so that high focus is given at district level for horticulture to gain momentum.
“Financing on Negotiable Warehousing Receipts to be integrated with e- National Agricultural Market,” the minister said in the budget speech.
NABARD Refinancing Scheme to be further expanded, agri credit target for the year 2020-21 has been set at 15 lakh crore rupees, she added.
The minister said that Milk processing capacity to be doubled from 53.5 million tonne to 108 million tonne by 2025.
Framework for development, management and conservation of marine fishery resources to be put in place , she said. The fish production to be raised to 200 lakh tonnes by 2022-23.
“Youth and fishery extension work to be enabled by rural youth as Sagar Mitras, forming 500 fish farmer producing organizations,”she said.
Will further expand on SHGs for alleviation of poverty, she added.
In her budget speech, the Finance minister also said that they will encourage balanced use of all fertilizers, a necessary step to change the incentive regime which encourages excessive use of chemical fertilizers.