E-Paper
Budget lacks roadmap on crop diversification, boosting farmers’ income: Punjab agri experts
The agri experts have opined that the budget speech delivered by the union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday lacks assurance for increase in productivity and farmers’ income.
The experts in the field of agriculture opined that the budget speech delivered by the union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday for the upcoming finance year starting from April 1, lacks assurance for increase in productivity and farmers’ income, and there is no definitive roadmap for diversification which are the key concerns of the agrarian society.
Talking about the announcements such as digitization, use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), setting up centres of excellence to support agriculture, a road map for natural farming, encouraging cluster cropping pattern, increase in institutional farm credit, they say it would support agriculture in the long run, but it is “without a clearcut deadline”.
“The fundamental concerns for agriculture and farmers in Punjab are crop diversification, conserving ground water, research for new crops, and minimum support price (MSP) on all crops a legal guarantee, but today’s budget speech is silent about that,” said RS Ghuman former head of the economics department Punjabi University.
Speaking on the announcement for an outlay of ₹ 20 lakh crore for credit to the farm sector, Ghuman said it is good step, for the reason that would help in pulling the farmers out of non-institutional debt which involves huge interest burden. “However, the issue is the availability of credit would not lead to increase in productivity and profitability for the farmers,” he asked, adding that the proposals for digitization in farming, and the AI intervention taking the research from laboratory to the fields will lead to fall in extension support for the farmers. “Farmers in my opinion are not technology savvy in cultivating crops,” he said.
The farmers need increase in income and not increase in credit, said food policy analyst Devinder Sharma, as according to him farmers are already in a severe debt trap . “It’s a budget for the rich and the middle class and sadly, there’s nothing for the farmers,” he added.
It is a good step to have a road map for natural farming, taking agriculture from chemical to non-chemical, however, the budget announcement is silent on the guarantee of MSP. Technological interventions in farming are welcome steps, but there is no definitive road map. How would opening new warehouses increase farmers’ income and how would startups help the cause, when the farmers are struggling, asked Sharma.
For Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Vice chancellor Dr. SS Gosal, ₹2,220 crores outlay for horticulture would support crop diversification, which is a progressive step. Referring to the announcement for opening centers of excellence for research in agriculture, Gosal said he would seek one for the PAU.
For Punjab, one serious concern is pulling farmers out of paddy cultivation by replacing it with oilseeds, cotton and pulses, for which we need MSP on all the alternative crops, suggested Gosal. “As proposed in the budget our university is also working on adopting cluster cropping and focus is on increasing nutritional security by growing millets,” he added.
“The budget has disappointed the farmers and farm labourers. The finance minister in her speech repeatedly stressed on increasing the production of coarse cereals without announcing a package. The farmers want to get out of the paddy-wheat cycle, but there is no concrete plan for the alternative crops by the government. The government should guarantee the purchase of all 23 crops at MSP,” sought Bharatiya Kisan Union-Ekta (Dakaunda) general secretary Jagmohan Singh.
He added that the budget has no proposal to get farmers rid of the multiplying debt. Even as the limit of lending has been increased, but there is no announcement for exemption of interest. “The government should have waived the loans of farmers and labourers,” he demanded.
