The 16 point agenda for farmers in the 2020 budget 2020 hopes to double farm income.
By Anil Kumar Tiwari
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has declared a 16-point agenda to double farmers’ income by 2022. This includes a credit of Rs. 15 lakh crore in the current financial year.
The government has allotted Rs. 2.83 lakh crore for agriculture and allied sectors which includes Rs. 1.23 lakh crore for rural development and Panchayati Raj.
The funds allotted to the PM Kisan Yojna have been reduced to Rs. 60,000 crore from the Rs. 75,000 crore allocated last year. PM-Kisan is the central government scheme under which families of each farmer get Rs. 6000 per annum in three installments. Under PM-Kisan schemes the government hopes to cover 12.5 lakh small and medium farmers.
The 16-point agenda includes adoption of modern agriculture and special schemes for water-stressed districts.
The finance minister said, “The government will help 20 lakh farmers in setting up stand-alone solar pumps and another 15 lakh farmers to set up solar irrigation facilities. Farmers with silos and barren land will be helped to set up solar power units that can be sold through the grid.”
She said that National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) would map and geo-tag agriculture warehouses, cold storages, and other inventory storages.
The government has also aimed at doubling milk production from 53 million metric tonnes to 103 million metric tonnes.
The finance minister has approved Rs. 3.6 lakh crore under Jal Jivan Mission to facilitate functional house tap connection to every house in rural areas by 2025. She further said that one lakh Gram Panchayats would be linked by Bharat net to improve the digital delivery of service in rural areas. The Government has allotted Rs. 6000 crore for it.
Nearly 36 percent of total (fast-moving consumer goods) FMCG products in India, are consumed in rural areas. A Nilesen report in 2019, showed that the consumption of FMCG products in the rural areas was lowest in the last seven years.
The economic survey 2019-20 showed that the Gross Value Added (GVA) growth in the agriculture and allied sectors reduced to 2.8 percent from 6.9 in 2018-19. The growth in the livestock sector is 7.9 CAGR in the last five years. The livestock sector includes farm animals that help farmers in enhancing their income.
