Prof J P Sharma
Budgets are always been discussed for their ability to enhance income, generate employment and achieve higher growth rate. Agriculture is considered to be the primary sector of the economy which supports the other two major sectors namely industry and service. During the last two years, agriculture sector has delivered immense contribution in sustaining the economic indicators. For the last several years, experts give less importance to the budgets in terms of their short term impact on economic indicators. However, the directions and announcements laid the foundation for positive growth in the economy.
Many a times, the major focus of discussion remain the industrial and service sectors and therefore there is a need to highlight the budget in terms of its contribution towards agriculture and farmers’ welfare. The Budget 2020 initiated eight liquidity measures amounting to more than Rs 1.50 lakh crore for various activities, namely Rs 1 lakh crore for strengthening infrastructure projects at farm-gate and aggregation points for Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies, Farmers Producer Organisations, Agriculture entrepreneurs etc., Rs. 20000 crore under Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, Rs. 15000 crores under Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund, Rs. 13343 crore for National Animal Disease Control Programme (vaccination for Foot and Mouth Disease), Rs. 10,000 crore for the formalisation of Micro Food Enterprises (MFE), Rs. 4000 crore for promotion of Herbal Cultivation, and Rs. 500 crore, each for Beekeeping initiatives & TOP to TOTAL scheme.
The budget 2022 has offered tremendous support to agriculture with allocation of Rs. 6,75,000 crores for PM-KISAN, Rs. 15500 crores for crop insurance, Rs. 7183 crores for Krishionnati Yojana, Rs. 10433 crores for Rashtriya Krishi Vikas and Rs. 1500 crores for market intervention scheme. The several supportive measures include promotion of innovative technologies such as drones and traditional knowledge in terms of natural farming. We all considered technology to be the supreme tool in the entire supply chain of farming, right from sowing to the market. The new budget aims at promoting Kisan Drones for crop assessment, digitization of land records, spraying of insecticides and nutrients etc. The question may arise that whether our farmers are ready to adopt the same. Here, it is important to consider the role of youths and technocrats. The youth are more technology savvy than the older counterparts and by popularizing the drone technology, we can assure more production and better price realization for farmers, on the one hand and employment avenues for the youths, on the other. Moreover, Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode is suggested for digital and high-tech services to the farmers.
Indian agricultural science is the oldest in the world. Written evidence of this is available in many texts. The principles of ancient agricultural science are as relevant today as they were thousands of years ago. While The Sage Parashar has mentioned the nuances of agriculture such as seed planting at the right time, irrigation etc. Acharya Chanakya, who was literally an economist, described such rules on agriculture and animal wealth management which have huge practicality even today. In the olden days, when modern techniques were not in vogue, weather or constellation-based predictions were accurate, which were made from time to time by experienced people. Ghagh, the great poet of his times, is considered to be one of such experienced poets. Whether it was buying bulls or ploughing fields, sowing seeds or harvesting crops, ghagh’s sayings represented his path. These proverbs are in vogue across India in oral form. Centuries ago, there were no TV-radios, no government meteorological department, in such a time, the sayings of the great peasant poets Ghagh and Bhaddari have been guiding the agricultural society for generations. In Vedic science, the concept of agriculture is shown as a chakra. It gives equal importance to agriculture and animal husbandry. Today, we talk about sustainable farming, natural farming, spontaneous farming and organic farming which have been India’s tradition for thousands of years. Taking forward the importance of our tradition, the emphasis of new budget to promote chemical-free natural farming cross the country is an appreciable initiative. This will not only ensure the environmental well-being and human health but also provide the economic wellness of farmers too through realization of better price for their produce. The major impediment in promoting natural farming is the un-availability of farm inputs. The role of farm universities as well as extension system in near future should be to strengthen farmers by ensuring availability of organic inputs. The capacity building of farmers should be the focus for producing farm-based inputs, including vermicompost, farm yard manure, biofertilizers and biopesticides etc.
The budget also announced investment in startups as a way to help rural businesses. The capital shall be raised under co-investment model facilitated through NABARD to finance startups in agriculture and rural enterprises for farm produce value chain for farm-based startups. This will strengthen the ongoing start-up programmes of the government such as Agri Clinics and Agri Business Centre (ACABC) Student Ready Programme (Rural Entrepreneurship Awareness Development Scheme), Atal Innovation Scheme etc. Finance Minister also encouraged states to revise syllabi of agricultural universities “to meet needs of natural, zero budget and organic farming, modern day agriculture” with scientific affluence within India’s farm sector.
Agroforestry and private forestry has a huge potential for enhancing farm incomes under diversified and integrated systems of farming. The budget provides incentives to farmers belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled tribes for taking up agroforestry as a profitable farm venture.
The budget also ensures continuous support towards procurement policy by targeting purchase of wheat and paddy worth Rs 2.37 lakh crore as minimum support price (MSP). The announcement of International Year of Millets is also an opportunity to prepare our farmers for adoption of nutritional farming. Moreover, a boost to branding, value addition and processing of millets will enhance local consumption and exports to meet the international demand. The budget will promote financial inclusion with 100 percent of post offices to be covered under core banking system, allowing online transfer between post offices and bank accounts. This further strengthens the farmers and senior citizens in rural areas. The states will be encouraged to adopt Unified Land Parcel Identification Number to facilitate IT based management of records.
Besides, the states are always dependent upon central assistance to support agriculture. The majority of the new agricultural initiatives at state levels are mainly implemented through centrally sponsored schemes. Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) including Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) & National Mission on micro irrigation (NMMI), National Mission on Medicinal Plants (NMMP), Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programmes (AIBP) & National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology (NMAET) are the major centrally sponsored schemes contributing to improve our agriculture at state levels. Even, Krishi Vigyan Kendras working at district levels for dissemination of latest agricultural technologies are fully funded by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Moreover, the central government has a huge responsibility of managing the distribution of food grains with sufficient buffer stocks and effective functioning of public distribution system.
Alongside new initiatives, the budget has also offered some challenges to the stakeholders, for example; reducing the imports of oilseeds by enhancing their production. We have to streamline our efforts to realize the ultimate goal of becoming Atmanirbhar Bharat with higher agricultural growth and enhanced farmers’ incomes. So, let us think agri-business rather than agriculture, with global vision and local action emphasising on ‘Vocal for Local’.
(The author is Vice Chancellor, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Jammu, J&K)
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