Coimbatore: The Tamil Nadu BJP Agricultural Wing on Tuesday termed the State Agriculture budget as a “paper budget” and not beneficial to the farmer community.
Without assessing whether the budget of Rs 32,775.78 crore presented in 2021 and Rs 33,307 crore in 2022 really reached and benefitted the farmers, the government has presented over Rs 38,000 crore budget this year, the schemes of which will not benefit the farming community, Tamil Nadu BJP Agriculture Wing president G K Nagaraj said in a statement here.
Tamil Nadu Agriculture Minister M R K Panneerselvam today presented the Agriculture budget for 2023-24.
The training given to 300 farmers from Tamil Nadu in foreign countries was a Central scheme, and Rs 130 crore plantation scheme in Theni was also sponsored by the Union government, Nagaraj said.
The Rs 22 crore for ‘Pasumaikudil’ scheme for horticulture sector was very meagre and only benefitted farmers owning 10 acres of land, whereas those in Nilgiris and Hosur dsitricts had sought to set up the scheme in at least 600 acres, as they are engaged in the export of rose, capsicum and cucumber, he said.
Meanwhile, Coimbatore South BJP MLA and All India Mahila Morcha president Vanathi Srinivasan said that the budget did not have solutions to the basic needs of farmers.
Terming the budget as “juggling rhetoric”, Vanathi in a statement said that it was totally disappointing that there was no announcement of supplying coconut oil in ration shops instead of palm oil.
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