Budget to boost farm sector growth & address farmer's distress

New Delhi: The government has presented a "pro-farmer" budget this year which will help in addressing farm distress and achieving 4 per cent growth in the sector, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said today. The minister said the Budget has made fund provisions to speed up the implementation of various schemes initiated by the government in last two years.

"The government has presented a pro-farmer budget for the first time after the country's independence," Singh told reporters here. Asked if the 2016 budget will help address farm distress and achieve 4 per cent growth, he said.

"Definitely, we will be able to achieve". The growth of agriculture sector has been projected at 1.1 per cent in 2015-16 fiscal as against decline of 0.2 per cent a year ago. The government is already implementing schemes to reduce cost of production, raise productivity and provide better price to farmers besides raising the minimum support price (MSP), Singh said, adding that the budget has provision to speed up implementation of these sche            mes.

Simultaneously, the new crop insurance scheme and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sichai Yojana would also help, he added. Yesterday, the government announced a major thrust for agriculture sector in the Budget by almost doubling allocation to Rs 44,485 crore and raising credit target to a record Rs 9 lakh crore. Singh said the state governments will be ready with irrigation plan for 150 districts by next month and the work would be speed up.

"The launch of unified electronic agri-market from April 14 will also help in ensuring farmers get better price in the market", he said.

The country has received deficient monsoon rains for two consecutive years, resulting in lower foodgrains production and higher prices of pulses. Some cases of farmer suicides were reported in states like Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

Of the Budget allocation for the 2016-17, a sum of Rs 15,000 crore has been provided for interest subvention on farm credit, Rs 5,500 crore for crop insurance scheme, Rs 815 crore to promote dairy and allied sector and Rs 500 crore to boost pulses output. To fund agri-initiatives, the government also imposed a Kisan Kalyan cess at 0.5 per cent on all taxable services from June.