Government targets to Double the Income of Farmers by 2022

The Union Finance Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley while presenting the General Budget today said that his Government intends to go beyond Food Security and give back a sense of income security to our farmers. In this regard, his Government intends to double the farmers' income by 2022. He allotted Rs. 35,984 crore for agriculture and farmers' welfare. He said that his government intends to address issues of optimal utilization of water resources, create new infrastructure for irrigation, conserve soil fertility with balanced use of fertilizer and provide connectivity from farm to market.

Shri Arun Jaitley said that out of 141 million hectares of net cultivated area only about 65 million hectares are irrigated. In this regard, he announced 'Pradhan Mantri Sinchai Yojana', to be implemented in a mission mode to bring another 28.5 lakh hectares under irrigation. He said that 89 projects under AIBP will be fast tracked which will help to irrigate another 80.6 lakh hectare. He promised to complete 23 of these projects before 31st March, 2017. These projects require Rs.17,000 crores next year and Rs. 86,500 crore in the next five years.

The Union Finance Minister, Shri Jaitley announced to create a dedicated Long Term Irrigation Fund in NABARD with an initial corpus of Rs. 20,000 crore. A similar progrmme for sustainable management of ground water resources, with an estimated cost of Rs.6,000 crores has been proposed for multilateral funding. He also said that allocations under MGNREGA will be used for creating atleast 5 lakh farm pond and dug wells in rain fed areas and 10 lakh compost pits for organic manure production.

Shri Jaitley has set the target for Soil Health Card Scheme coverage to 14 crore farm holdings by March, 2017. This will help farmers to make judicious use of fertilizer. He said that 2000 model retail outlets of Fertilizer companies will be provided with soil and seed testing facilities in the next 3 years. He announced a policy to convert city waste to compose under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Fertilizer Companies will co-market these compost.

The Union Finance Minister Shri Jaitley announced 'Parmparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana' for bringing 5 lakh acres of rain fed areas under organic farming. He launched a scheme 'Organic value chain development in North East Region' to make their organic produce find domestic and export markets. Number of pulses districts under National Food Security Mission has been increased to 622.

Source : Equity Bulls

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