New Delhi: Farmers and agriculture is in focus of Arun Jaitley’s budget speech. In an apparent attempt to woo farmers with an eye on the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Jaitley announced a slew of measures to benefit lift the agrarian economy.
In a big move, the government has decided to hike Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Kharif crops by 1.5 times the cost of production. “If prices are lower than MSP then government has to ensure there are ways to make sure the farmers receive MSP or an apt price,” Jaitley said.
The finance minister added that organic farming will be encouraged and the government will work with NITI Aayog to develop system of optimal farm price realisation, develop 22,000 gramin agri centres GRAMS to help farmers.
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“The budget has a clear agriculture push as expected. A number of initiatives for agriculture and food processing have been announced. Policies like MSP being at 1.5 times the cost of produce need to be understood, to assess impact of inflation on agri commodities,” Anil Rego, CEO & Founder, Right Horizon, said.
The government has also proposed setting up an agricultural market fund of Rs 2,000 crore. Apart from this, the government has also proposed to launch Operation Green for which a sum of Rs 500 crore will be allocated.
To boost bamboo farming in the country, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced National Bamboo Mission for which he allotted Rs 1200 crore. Jaitley further allotted Rs 10,000 crore for fisheries, aquaculture and animal husbandry funds.
