Farm research ramp-up to tackle climate impact: Nirmala Sitharaman
Sitharaman said there would be a “comprehensive review of the agriculture research setup” to raise productivity and develop “climate resilient varieties”
The Union government will ramp up farm research to boost productivity and the ability of crops to withstand climate challenges that have upended the country’s food supplies, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, unveiling the Union Budget 2024-25, her seventh in a row.
Identifying agriculture among nine top priorities, Sitharaman said there would be a “comprehensive review of the agriculture research setup” to raise productivity and develop “climate resilient varieties”. Sitharaman added the government was allocating ₹1.52 lakh crore for agriculture and allied sectors. For agriculture alone, the Budget has provisioned ₹1.32 lakh crore, up from the Interim Budget’s allocation of ₹1.27 lakh crore for 2024-25 presented in February.
The capital expenditure allocation for the department of farm research stood at ₹6.5 crore out of a total of ₹9941 crore, which means a bulk of the outlay will go towards revenue expenditure. The revised estimates for 2023-24 showed the government had spent ₹9.96 crore as capital expenditure for the department.
While the government spent ₹40 crore on climate resilient agriculture initiative in 2022-23 (revised estimates), there has been no allocation for this sub-scheme since 2023-24.
Sitharaman said funding will be provided to bolster agricultural research. “Funding will be provided in challenge mode, including to the private sector. Domain experts both from the government and outside will oversee the conduct of such research.”
The government will introduce 109 high-yielding and climate-resilient varieties of 32 field and horticulture crops, Sitharaman said.
While agriculture tends to swing from one problem to the other, India’s 140 million farmers are increasingly battling extreme weather patterns said to be linked to climate change. Heat waves shriveled wheat crops in the world’s second-largest grower in 2022 and 2023, stoking food prices. In June, food prices rose a sharp 9.6%, the latest official data show.
A landmark study by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations in 2018 found that every ₹10 lakh invested in farm research potentially pulled 328 people out of poverty while only 26 people were helped by the same amount spent on subsidies. Likewise, every ₹1 spent on agricultural research increased farm GDP by ₹11.2, the study showed.
The government will strengthen the output and marketing of pulses and oilseeds for self-sufficiency, Sitharaman said.
“The government has been continuously increasing minimum support prices. Climate-resilient and high-yielding varieties to be released soon will enhance productivity,” Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said in a statement.
Anand Ramanathan of Deloitte in a note said the mission for self-sufficiency in pulses, encouraging shrimp production, and focusing on vegetable production clusters will help in aligning production to emerging changes in the consumption of fresh produce and proteins.