Agriculture allocation including 'Market Intervention Fund' made in Telangana to help farmers

HYDERABAD: With farmers in the State failing to get remunerative prices for red gram despite having a bumper crop this year, the Telangana government, in a first, has allocated an amount of Rs 1,000 crore as ‘Market Intervention Fund’, in a bid to prevent farmer distress during the procurement of crops. 

Finance Minister Harish Rao, in his budget speech on Sunday, said, "The Union government had permitted the purchase of a small quantity of red gram from farmers. With the intention to protect red gram farmers, the Telangana government has decided to spend any amount of money to purchase the entire produce, if the need arises."

Further, the Telangana government has also allocated Rs 350 crore for the construction of Rythu Vedikas across the State and has increased allocation for horticulture by more than Rs 200 crore this year. Also, Rs 600 crore has been allocated to provide micro-irrigation support to the farmers. 

The overall budget estimate for expenditure on agriculture schemes is more than Rs 2,632 crore this year. It was Rs 14,933 crore the previous year. 

The budgetary allocation for Rythu Bandhu scheme has also been increased by around Rs 2,000 crore when compared to the previous year’s allocation. The hike has been credited to the issuance of new passbooks by State government to land holders, resulting in an increase in the number of beneficiaries. For Rythu Bheema, the amount allocated is Rs 1,141 crore. 

No hike in funds for farmer subsidy

Several other important areas under the agri sector either got no budgetary allocation or were denied increments when compared to the previous year. There was no increase in the allocation for subsidy on supply of seeds to farmers. Further, there was no allocation for farm mechanisation subsidy, assistance to seed development corporation and the programme, ‘Resilience of Agriculture Households through Adaptation to Climate Change’. 

Waiver funds to be released soon

According to Harish, the government will release the entire Rs 1,198 crore in March 2020 itself to waive off the loans. He also announced that Rs 6,225 crore has been allocated for farm loan waiver for 2020-21