This document summarizes the key announcements in the 2017-18 Union Budget for India's agricultural sector. It allocates 10 lakh crore rupees in credit to farmers, increases coverage under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana crop insurance scheme to 40% of the cropped area, and doubles the long-term irrigation fund in NABARD to 40,000 crore rupees. The budget aims to double farm incomes over the next five years by boosting agricultural credit, irrigation infrastructure, and financial support to farmers suffering from crop losses.
3. INTRODUCTION
• Agriculture plays a vital role in India’s economy. Over 58 % of the rural
households depend on agriculture as their principal means of
livelihood.
• India is the largest producer of spices, pulses, milk, tea, cashew and
jute; and the second largest producer of wheat, rice, fruits and
vegetables, sugarcane, cotton and oilseeds.
• The agro industry in India is divided into several sub segments such as
canned, dairy, processed, frozen food to fisheries, meat, poultry, and
food grains.
4. • At 157.35 million hectares, India holds the second largest agricultural
land in the world.
• Agriculture, along with fisheries and forestry, is one of the largest
contributors to the GDP
• The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation under the Ministry of
Agriculture is responsible for the development of the agriculture sector
in India.
6. A sum of Rs.10 lakh crore is allocated as credit to farmers, with 60
days interest waiver
Government to support NABARD for computerisation and
integration of all 63,000 functional Primary Agriculture Credit
Societies with the Core Banking System of District Central Cooperative
Banks.
Coverage under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana increased to 40%
of cropped area
Source:unionbudget.nic.in
KEY ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR THE agriculture sector
7. Contd…
New mini labs in Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and ensure 100%
coverage of all 648 KVKs in the country for soil sample testing
Long term Irrigation fund set up in NABARD increased from Rs.20,000
crore to Rs.40,000 crore
A model law on contract farming will be prepared and shared with
the states
8. fund allocation into the agricultural sector –
A COMPARATIVE FRAMEWORK
UNION BUDGET 2016-17
• Target for agricultural credit was
Rs.9 lakh crores
• For Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai
Yojana Rs.5189 crore was allocated
• Coverage under Fasal Bima Yojana
was 30% of cropped area for which
Rs.5500 crores was allocated
• Long term irrigation fund was
created in NABARD with initial
corpus of about Rs.20,000 crore
UNION BUDGET 2017-18
• Target for agricultural credit is
Rs.10 lakh crores
• For this year Rs.7377 crore has
been allocated
• Coverage under the same is 40%
for which Rs.9000 crores has
been allocated
• Long term irrigation fund created
in NABARD with initial corpus of
about Rs.40,000 crore
Source:www.indiabudget.nic.in
9. IMPLICATION
Doubling the farm income over the next 5 years
Higher credit targets enhances the access to funds for the farm community
Increased allocation towards irrigation programmes will reduce the
dependency on monsoon
Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana aims at providing financial support to
farmers suffering from crop loss out of unforeseen events
10. CONCLUSION
The agriculture sector in India is expected to generate better
momentum in the next few years due to increased investments in
agricultural infrastructure such as irrigation facilities, warehousing,
cold storage, etc.
The Government of India has introduced several projects to assist the
agriculture sector which also aims to motivate groups of farmers to
take up organic farming.
It is expected that by the next year the agricultural sector will grow
by 4.1%
