Budget offers nothing concrete for agriculture sector, say farm bodies, experts

Farm bodies and agriculture experts on Saturday termed the 2020-21 general budget announced by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman as disappointing, claiming

Farm bodies and agriculture experts on Saturday termed the 2020-21 general budget announced by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman as disappointing, claiming it does not spell out anything tangible for the farmers to bail out the agrarian sector which is in a deep crisis.

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Harvinder Singh, general secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU-Lakhowal) said, “The farmers have not got anything. How is doubling of income going to become a reality when the sectoral allocation is not increased?”

“During the pre-budget discussions, we were promised minimum support price (MSP) for all crops but it was not talked about in the budget. It was also promised to reduce Goods and Service Tax (GST) on pesticides but even it was not mentioned in the budget speech by the minister,” added Lakhowal.

Food policy analyst Devinder Sharma said, “At the time of slowdown when it was expected that rural demand can boost consumption which could lead to growth, it was expected that more money would be allocated for the countryside but the hopes it fell flat.”

“In my view, 10% increase in the sectoral allocation is not significant. As far as food subsidy is concerned, there is a drastic fall from ₹1.84 lakh crore to ₹1.15 lakh crore in 2020-21. Moreover, the allocation for the PM-KISAN scheme was not enhanced as per expectations,” he said.

BKU (Rajewal) president BS Rajewal said, “The government has no agriculture policy or diversification plan. Starting the Kisan Rail for transporting perishable goods across the country at a faster pace is a good step but farmers can’t make the best use of it as there’s no plan on focus crops.”

“I am afraid the central government has plans to hand over agriculture to the corporate houses at the cost of farmers. Doubling of farmers’ income is only an announcement. At present, when a farmer family earns per capita ₹1,666 a month, how will the government increase it to ₹3,332?” he said.

On the announcement by Sitharaman to pump in ₹15 lakh crore more into the agriculture sector, Rajewal said it would put extra burden on farmers who are already under huge debt. He also questioned the proposal to double milk production in the country as farmers are not getting good price for the commodity in the market.

Calling it a “flat budget”, Punjab State Farmers Commission chairman Ajay Vir Jakhar said the allocation for food and fertiliser subsidy has been cut drastically.

“The fertiliser subsidy alone has been reduced by ₹9,000 crore. I think the government lacks revenue generation due to which allocations are going down. Also, the Union agriculture ministry is to be blamed for not spending its yearly allocations The only good thing about this budget is the announcement to double milk processing, increase fish production and reduce income tax on cooperative farm bodies from 30% to 22%,” he said.