Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced expansion of the scope of Operation Greens to boost export of agricultural commodities. She said that to boost value addition in agriculture and allied products and their exports, the scope of ‘Operation Greens Scheme’ that is presently applicable to tomatoes, onions, and potatoes, will be enlarged to include 22 perishable products.
Also, she announced Agricultural Infrastructure and Development Cess aimed at improving infrastructure for the agriculture sector. The Agriculture Infrastructure Funds would be made available to APMCs for augmenting their infrastructure facilities.
“There is an immediate need to improve agricultural infrastructure so that we produce more, while also conserving and processing agricultural output efficiently and resulting in enhanced remuneration for the farmers,” she said while tabling the Union Budget 2021 in Parliament here.
Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) has been proposed on import of specified goods including Apple -35%, Crude Palm Oil 17.5%,Crude Soya-bean oil -20%, Crude Sunflower seed oil -20%, Peas (Pisum sativum) - 40%, Kabuli Chana - 30%, Bengal Gram (desi chana) - 50% , ChickPeas (garbanzos) - 50% , Lentils (Mosur) - 20%, Wine- 100%, Vermouth and other wine of fresh grapes, flavoured - 100%, Other fermented beverages for example, Cider, Perry, Mead, sake, mixture of fermented beverages or fermented beverages and non-alcoholic beverages - 100% and Brandy, Bourbon whiskey, Scotch etc- 100%.
For the agriculture sector, she said that the MSP regime now stands at 1.5 times the cost of production across all commodities. The procurement has also continued to increase at a steady pace. This has resulted in increase in payment to farmers substantially.
In case of wheat, the total amount paid to farmers in 2013-2014 was Rs 33,874 crore. In 2019-2020 it was Rs 62,802 crore, and even better, in 2020-2021, this amount, paid to farmers, was Rs 75,060 crore. The number of wheat growing farmers that were benefited increased in 2020-21 to 43.36 lakh as compared to 35.57 lakh in 2019-20.
For paddy, the amount paid in 2013-14 was Rs 63,928 crore. In 2019-2020, this increased to Rs1,41,930 crore. Even better, in 2020-2021, this is further estimated to increase to Rs 172,752 crore. The farmers benefitted increased from 1.24 crore in 2019-20 to 1.54 crore in 2020-21.
In the same vein, in case of pulses, the amount paid in 2013-2014 was Rs 236 crore. In 2019-20 it increased to Rs 8,285 crore. Now, in 2020-2021, it is at Rs10,530 crore, a more than 40 times increase from 2013-14.
To provide adequate credit to farmers, the government has enhanced the agricultural credit target to Rs 16.5 lakh crore in FY22. Similarly, the allocation to the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund increased from Rs 30,000 crore to Rs 40,000 crore. The Micro Irrigation Fund, with a corpus of Rs5,000 crore has been created under NABARD, will be doubled.
She said that around 1.68 crore farmers are registered and Rs 1.14 lakh crore of trade value has been carried out through e-NAMs. Keeping in view the transparency and competitiveness that e-NAM has brought into the agricultural market, 1,000 more mandis will be integrated with e-NAM.
Also, the Finance Minister proposed substantial investments in the development of modern fishing harbours and fish landing centres. To start with, 5 major fishing harbours – Kochi, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Paradip, and Petuaghat – will be developed as hubs of economic activity.
Commenting on the Union Budget, Amith Aggarwal, CEO & co-founder, Agribazaar, says, “Whether through the continued efforts towards the digitisation of the agri-sector or the expansion of the Agri infra fund, I believe all the initiatives announced in the Budget will augur well for India's farmers and farming industry over the short-, medium- and long-term.”
He elaborated, “The rural Agri fund will help drive greater outlay and build a world-class Agri infrastructure. These investments will reduce farm-to-fork wastage and usher scientific crop growing and post-harvest facilities. Mandi digitisation will facilitate tech intervention in agriculture, leading to greater efficiency, enterprise and predictability in the sector. Agri credit will bridge the gap in rural credit and enable the development of the agriculture sector and its dependent industries while initiatives such as the expansion of irrigation facilities and the inclusion of more perishable items under the Greens scheme will increase agri-efficiencies. Also, the R&D through agricultural hubs will foster the industry's competitiveness on a global scale.”