New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Tuesday announced Budget allocation of Rs 1.52 lakh crore for the agriculture and allied sectors, along with initiatives such as Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for agriculture, natural farming, and steps to achieve self-sufficiency in pulses and oilseeds.
Noting that ‘productivity and resilience in Agriculture’ was among the nine priorities for the government, Sitharaman said that the government will work towards transforming agriculture research. “Our government will undertake a comprehensive review of the agriculture research setup to bring the focus on raising productivity and developing climate resilient varieties.”
She added that funding would be provided in “challenge mode”, including to the private sector and that domain experts, both from the government and outside, would oversee the conduct of such research.
The Centre, in partnership with the states, will implement the DPI in agriculture to cover farmers across the country and their lands in three years. DPI refers to the foundational digital framework that nations build for effective governance and citizen services. In India, Aadhaar and unified payments interface (UPI), are examples of DPI.
Last year, the finance minister had announced DPI for Agriculture. She had said that DPI would be built as an open source, open standard and interoperable public good. This will enable six inclusive, farmer-centric solutions through relevant information services for crop planning and health, improved access to farm inputs, credit, and insurance, help for crop estimation, market intelligence, and support for growth of agri-tech industry and start-ups.
On Tuesday, Sitharamansaid, “Buoyed by the success of the pilot project, our government, in partnership with the states, will facilitate the implementation of DPI in agriculture for coverage of farmers and their lands in 3 years.”
She added that this year, a digital crop survey for Kharif using the DPI would 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 5 states.”
Additionally, the Budget proposed that new 109 high-yielding and climate-resilient varieties of 32 field and horticulture crops would be released for cultivation.
“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 be established,” Sitharaman said.
Further, to achieve self-sufficiency in pulses and oilseeds, the government has proposed to strengthen their production, storage and marketing. “As announced in the interim budget, a strategy is being put in place to achieve ‘atmanirbharta’ (self-reliance) for oil seeds such as mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean, and sunflower,” Sitharaman said.
The Centre also proposed to provide financial support for setting up a network of Nucleus Breeding Centres for Shrimp Broodstocks. “Financing for shrimp farming, processing and export will be facilitated through NABARD,” the FM said.
“Our government will bring out a National Cooperation Policy for systematic, orderly and all-round development of the cooperative sector. Fast-tracking growth of the rural economy and generation of employment opportunities on a large scale will be the policy goal.”
Soumyak Biswas, Partner, Food and Agribusiness, Management Consulting at business advisory firm BDO India said that the budget has emphasized structural changes in unlocking the value chain in the agriculture and allied areas.
“Thrust on R&D in collaboration with industry in PPP mode can significantly enhance productivity and bring much-needed innovation to the sector. Secondly, a marked difference in this budget is the clear focus on sustainable production driven by the promotion of natural farming in the sector,” Biswas said.
He added that despite being the leading producer of several crops, India lags in agri exports globally. To harness the potential, the budget laid significant thrust on promoting cluster development in horticulture products which can significantly boost the contribution of the sector to the national economy.
“Given the predominance of small and marginal farmers in the country who lack scale, the announcement of the formulation of a National Cooperative Policy is expected to address issues related to scaling up, collectivisation and streamlining the value chain. Thrust on increasing self-sufficiency is reflected in the announcement for pulses and oilseeds, which can help reduce the import bills,” he said
The DPI enablement could bring in much-needed efficiency in the value chain – which would give the ‘annadatas’ (farmer) access to resources, advisory and financial support, in the process creating a globally competitive food industry, he added.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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