New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced a Rs 1.52 lakh crore allocation for agriculture and allied sectors in 2024-25, outlining a comprehensive plan to boost research, promote sustainable farming, enhance oilseed and pulse production and integrate technology in the agricultural landscape.
In her Budget speech, Sitharaman emphasised the need for a thorough review of the agriculture research setup to enhance productivity and develop climate-resilient crop varieties.
“Our government will undertake a comprehensive review of the agriculture research set up to bring the focus on raising productivity and developing climate resilient varieties,” the finance minister said.
The research funding will be challenge-based and open to private sector participation, with domain experts overseeing the conduct of research.
Sitharaman announced that farmers will soon have access to 109 new high-yielding, climate-resilient varieties across 32 field and horticulture crops.
To boost self-sufficiency in crucial crops, the minister revealed plans for focused missions on pulses and oilseeds, aimed at strengthening their production, storage, and marketing infrastructure.
“As announced in the interim budget, a strategy is being put in place to achieve ‘atmanirbharta’ for oil seeds, such as mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean, and sunflower,” Sitharaman said.
The government’s emphasis on research and crop diversification comes alongside a push for sustainable farming practices.
Sitharaman announced an initiative to bring 1 crore farmers into natural farming over the next two years, supported by certification and branding efforts.
In a move to modernise the sector, she outlined plans to implement Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in agriculture, covering farmers and their lands in three years. This initiative includes digital crop surveys and the creation of farmer and land registries.
“In the current fiscal, the government will conduct a digital crop survey for the Kharif season using the DPI in 400 districts. The details of 6 crore farmers and their lands will be brought into the farmer and land registries,” Sitharaman said.
The budget also includes provisions for developing large-scale vegetable production clusters near major consumption centres, promoting Farmer-Producer Organizations and startups in the supply chain.
To boost the fisheries sector, Sitharaman announced financial support for setting up a network of nucleus breeding centres through NABARD for shrimp production and export.
She also proposed reducing basic customs duty on certain broodstock, polychaete worms, shrimp and fish feed to 5 per cent, and exempting customs duty on various inputs for manufacturing shrimp and fish feed.
The finance minister revealed plans for a National Cooperation Policy to systematically develop the cooperative sector. Additionally, the issuance of Jan Samarth-based Kisan Credit Cards will be enabled in five states.
The Rs 1.52 lakh crore allocation for agriculture and allied sectors underscores the government’s commitment to rural economic growth and employment generation.
The allocation is higher than Rs 1.31 lakh crore in the 2023-24 fiscal for agriculture and allied sectors.
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