Union Budget 2023-24: Key Provisions for Agriculture
Digital public infrastructure for agriculture will be built as an opensource, open standard and inter operable public good. This will enableinclusive, farmer-centric solutions through relevant information services forcrop planning and health, improved access to farm inputs, credit, andinsurance, help for crop estimation, market intelligence, and support for growth of agri-tech industry and start-ups.
An Agriculture Accelerator Fund will be set-up to encourage agristartups by young entrepreneurs in rural areas. Rs 500 crore has been allocated for the Agriculture Accelerator Fund to be spent over a period of 5 years.
To enhance the productivity of extra-long staple cotton, a cluster-based and value chain approach will be adopted through Public Private Partnerships (PPP).
To make India a global hub for ‘Shree Anna’ (Millets), the Indian Instituteof Millet Research, Hyderabad will be supported as the Centre of Excellence for sharing best practices, research and technologies at the internationallevel.
The agriculture credit target will be increasedto Rs. 20 lakh crore with focus on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries.
A new sub-scheme of PM MatsyaSampada Yojana will be launched with targeted investment of Rs. 6,000 crore to further enable activities offishermen, fish vendors, and micro & small enterprises, improve value chainefficiencies, and expand the market.
The government will implement a plan to set up massive decentralised storage capacity. This will help farmers store their produceand realize remunerative prices through sale at appropriate times.
The government will facilitate setting up of a large number of multipurpose cooperative societies, primary fishery societies and dairy cooperative societies in uncovered panchayats and villages in the next 5 years.
The total budget of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, including Agricultural Education and Research, is about Rs 1.25 lakh crore.
Out of the total, provision of Rs. 60,000 crore has been made for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan).
Rs 23,000 crores has been allocated for Kisan Credit Card (KCC).
Focusing on Animal Husbandry, Dairy and Fisheries, the agricultural loan target has been set at Rs 20 lakh crore.
Provision of Rs 450 crore has been made for the Digital Agriculture Mission and about Rs. 600 crore allocated for the promotion of Agriculture sector through technology.
A provision of Rs 459 crore has been made for promoting Natural Farming. In 3 years, 1 crore farmers will be supported for Natural Farming, for which 10,000 Bio Input Research Centers will be opened.
A budget provision of Rs 955 crore has been earmarked for the formation of new FPOs this year, while the Agriculture Infra Fund and Pradhan Mantri FasalBima Yojana, beneficial for the farmers, are also being promoted.
Budget Outlay of Rs 1,623 crorehas earmarked for Food and nutritional security.
For the development of Horticulture sector, the budget has been increased to Rs 2,200 crore.
An Atmanirbhar Clean Plant Program will be launched to boostavailability of disease-free, quality planting material for high valuehorticultural crops at an outlay of Rs. 2,200 crore.
