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Allocation to the agriculture sector in the Union Budget 2024-25 increased by 4.58 per cent – Rs 1,32,469.86 crore from Rs 1,26,665.56 crore in the Revised Estimates (RE) of 2023-24.
Out of total allocation, Rs 1,22,528.77 crore was for the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Rs 9,941.09 crore to the Department of Agricultural Research and Education.
The allied sectors of fisheries and animal husbandry saw a total allocation of Rs 7,137.68 crore, a jump of 27 per cent compared to 2023-24 RE. While the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying saw an allocation of Rs 4,521.24 crore (increase of 15 per cent), the Department of Fisheries was allocated Rs 2,616.44 crore (increase of 53.8 per cent).
Combined, agriculture and allied sectors saw an allocation of Rs 1,39,607.54 crore.
In her speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned that a provision of Rs 1.52 lakh crore for agriculture and allied sector has been made. The sector allocation means provision to schemes in different ministries, apart from the above mentioned ones.
Meanwhile, the share allocated to the agriculture ministry in the overall budget (Rs 48,20,512.08 crore) was just 2.74 per cent, almost at par with 2023-24. In 2022-23 budget, this share was 3.36 per cent.
In terms of scheme-wise distribution, first let’s hear the good news:
Major boost to pulses / oilseeds procurement
In absolute figures, the sector saw an increase of Rs 5,804.3 crore, and 73 per cent of that increase has gone to one scheme: Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Yojna (PM-AASHA).
This is likely to give a fillip to procurement of pulses and oilseeds from farmers at fixed floor prices. The scheme got an outlay of Rs 6,437.50 crore, an increase of Rs 4,237.50 crore compared to 2023-24.
Pulses and oilseeds also found a mention in the finance minister’s speech, in which she pointed out that for achieving self-sufficiency in pulses and oilseeds, the government will strengthen their production, storage and marketing.
“It’s a positive move, especially for semi-arid states like Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh, which majority of the pulses growing happens but face a dearth of marketing infrastructure, with may be the exception of Madhya Pradesh,” said Gurpreet Singh, associate professor, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, OP Jindal Global University. Singh was formerly with the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability.
India currently imports about 15 per cent of its pulses consumption and about 56 per cent of its total annual edible oil consumption.
The increased allocation to PM-AASHA can boost pulses and oilseeds sowing if it gets effectively translated to assured procurement from farmers, who need cash in hand after harvesting to meet the cultivation costs like labour payment and repaying of loans, and also to invest in the next sowing cycle.
“So for that we need a sound marketing infrastructure like in Punjab and Haryana where farmers don’t have doubts about whether their crop will be sold or not,” said Singh.
Digital crop survey
Sitharaman also announced a digital crop survey for Kharif season using the Digital Public Infrastructure for Agriculture (DPI) in 400 districts. This is a welcome step, given the error-ridden tracking and estimation of yield and production of key crops.
Allocation to other major schemes
While PM-AASHA saw a major boost, another important scheme — Market Intervention Scheme and Price Support Scheme (MIS-PSS) — has not seen any allocation this year. While PSS is for procurement of notified pulses, oilseeds and copra at MSP and it is understood that this would be subsumed under PM-AASHA, but MIS is implemented for procurement of perishable agricultural / horticultural crops for which MSP is not announced.
“While farmers across the country have been asking for a legally-guaranteed price support, with cost component C2 taken as the base for at least 50 per cent more over and above it guaranteed as MSP both in announcement and accrual to the farmer, nothing has been provided for this by the government,” said a statement by ASHA (Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture) Kisan Swaraj.
Even last year, MIS-PSS was virtually ignored as its allocation reduced from Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 1 lakh, almost a 100 per cent cut.
Meanwhile, the allocation to Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), a cash incentive scheme for landholder farmers, remained unchanged, at Rs 60,000 crore.
Allocation to ‘Formation and Promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs)’ scheme was Rs 581.67 crore, an increase from Rs 450 crore (RE 2023-24).
In the budget speech, Sitharaman mentioned that 10 million farmers in the next two years will be initiated into natural farming, supported by certification and branding. But the 2023-24 budget speech also had a similar commitment.
“There is nothing to show what happened to the 2023-24 budget speech commitment saying that over the next three years, 10 million farmers will adopt natural farming. Now, in this speech, the same commitment of 10 million farmers being initiated into natural farming in the next two years is being made,” said the statement by ASHA Kisan Swaraj, a volunteer-driven large informal network of farmers’ organisations, consumer groups, women’s organisations, environmental organisations, individual citizens and experts.
While the allocation under the natural farming scheme was increased from 100 crore in RE 2023-24 to Rs 365 crore in 2024-25 budget, the sum allocated in 2023-24 budget estimates was much higher, at Rs 459 crore.