‘Hike Budget outlay for all agri-related departments’

-The Hindu Business Line

New Delhi: Several organisations and individuals have sought higher Budget outlays for all departments dealing with the agriculture sector if the Centre is really serious about farmers’ welfare.

 

“Budget 2015-16 was a serious disappointment in that it actually cut down allocations for Ministry of Agriculture to levels less than 2011-12, i.e., five years earlier! (see table) …. It is clear that farmers’ welfare added to the Ministry’s mandate cannot be fulfilled unless adequate public investments are made in the sector,” said the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA), an umbrella of farmer organisations in 23 States, in a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

The alliance said unless the outlays are enhanced not only will the agriculture sector not be able to deliver on growth expectations and thereby impact the rest of the economy, but will also mean serious distress and increased numbers of farmer suicides in India.

Among other things, ASHA sought a guarantee fund of ₹5,000 crore to increase the bankers’ confidence in lending to non-land owning “licensed” cultivators, both as individual farmers and in Joint Liability Groups.

With climate change challenges badly hitting the sector, ASHA said there was need for serious overhaul of the disaster relief system, with outlays of ₹25,000 crore set aside for relief from extreme weather events. “This year for instance, the allocation was only ₹8,679 crore while the approved assistance was around ₹13,549 crore which itself is much less than what is needed!,” it said.

The organisation also called for setting up a Farm Income Commission for making interventions toward delivering minimum living incomes to farm households.