Asserting that the government is committed to farmers' welfare, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the MSP regime has undergone a "sea change" to assure price at least 1.5 times of production cost with sharp increase in procurement of foodgrains and payment to farmers.
In her budget speech for the next fiscal, she said the procurement of crops like paddy, wheat, pulses and cotton has jumped manifold in the last six years.
"Our government is committed to the welfare of farmers. The MSP (minimum support price) regime has undergone a sea change to assure price that is at least 1.5 times the cost of production across all commodities," Sitharaman said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also proposed 10 per cent hike in the farm loan disbursal target to Rs 16.5 lakh crore in the Budget, and introduced an agri-infra and development cess of up to 100 per cent to create post-harvest infrastructure for improving farmers' income.
The minister also proposed higher allocation for Rural Infrastructure Development Fund and Micro Irrigation Fund, and extended Agriculture Infrastructure Fund to APMCs for augmenting infrastructure facilities.
Following are the agriculture announcements by FM Nirmala Sitharaman:
In a bid to boost agriculture infrastructure, the government on Monday announced a cess on certain items, including petrol, diesel, gold and some imported agricultural products. An agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess of Rs 2.5 per litre has been imposed on petrol and Rs 4 per litre on diesel. Unbranded petrol and diesel will attract basic excise duty of Rs 1.4 and Rs 1.8 per litre respectively.
To boost value addition in agriculture and allied products and their exports, the Finance Minister said the scope of 'Operation Green Scheme' that is presently applicable to tomatoes, onions, and potatoes, will be enlarged to include 22 perishable products.
The farm credit target set for the next fiscal is however higher than Rs 15 lakh crore set for the current fiscal. Stressing on the need to improve the farm infrastructure to ensure higher remuneration to farmers, the Finance Minister proposed an Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) in the range of 2.5 to 100 per cent on certain commodities.
On electronic National Agriculture Market (eNAM), Finance Minister said around 1.68 crore farmers are registered and Rs 1.14 lakh crore of trade value has been carried out through the e-platform.
Around 1.68 crores farmers are registered and `1.14 lakh crores of trade value has been carried out through e-NAMs. Keeping in view the transparency and competitiveness that e-NAM has brought into the agricultural market, 1,000 more mandis will be integrated with e-NAM.
The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund would be made available to APMCs for augmenting their infrastructure facilities.
Five major fishing hubs will be developed as hubs for economic activity including Chennai, Kochi and Paradip.
To promote seaweed farming, a multipurpose sea weed park to be established in Tamil Nadu.
