The Centre rolled out its third tranche of economic measures with 11 announcements on Friday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced 11 measures – of which 8 of them focused on strengthening infrastructure, capacities and building better logistics in Agriculture, Fisheries and animal husbandry, while the rest 3 pertained to governance and administrative reforms.
Agriculture infrastructure
- Rs. 1 lakh crore for farm gate infrastructure (to be done immediately)- A finance facility of Rs 1 lakh crore for farm aggregators, FPOs for strengthening the farm gate infrastructure by funding Agriculture Infrastructure Projects, agriculture entrepreneurs and post-harvest management infrastructure.
- Rs 10,000 crore scheme for formalisation of Micro Food Enterprises- The fund for micro food enterprises (MFE) will help 2 lakh MFEs using technical up-gradation, building brands, marketing.
- Rs 20,000 crore for Fishermen through PM Matsya Sampada Yojana- Executing the scheme launched in the Budget 2020 immediately, the PM Matsya Sampada Yojana allots Rs 11,000 crore for marine, inland fisheries and agriculture. Rs 9000 crore for infrastructure including fishing harbours, cold chain, markets etc.
- National Animal Disease Control Programme launched- Ensuring 100% vaccination of cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat & pig population which will cover 53 crore animals. The programme has an outlay of Rs 13,343 crores since January 2020. Till date, 1.5 crore cows and buffaloes tagged and vaccinated.
- Rs 15,000 crore to be spent for dairy infrastructure- An Animal Husbandary Infra Fund of Rs. 15000 crore will be set up to support private investment in dairy processing and cattle feed infrastructure.
- Rs 4000 Crore for Promotion of Herbal Cultivation- The National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) has supported 2.25 lakh hectare area for medical plant cultivation. Additional 10,00,000 hectare will be covered with the Rs 4000 crore fund in the next two years.
- Rs 500 crores for bee-keeping initiatives- Beekeeping increases yield & quality of crops, hence govt will implement a Rs 500 crore scheme to aid honey production and wax production, marketing, storage etc. This will increase the income of 2 lakh beekeepers.
- Rs 500 crore ‘Top’ to total initiative- Operation Greens to be extended from tomatoes, onion and potatoes to all fruits and vegetables. The scheme includes 50% subsidy on transportation from surplus to deficient markets and 50% subsidy on storage including cold storages on a pilot basis for 6 months.
Governance reforms
- Amendment to Essential Commodities Act- The government will amend the Essential Commodities Act which was enacted in 1955 to enable better price realisation for farmers by attracting investments – making agriculture sector competitive. Agriculture food stuff including cereals, edible oils , oilseeds, pulses, onions and potato to be deregulated.
- Agriculture marketing reforms to provise marketing choices- Govt will bring agriculture marketing reforms to provide marketing choices to farmers via a Central law.
- Agriculture produce price and quality assurance- Govt of india will create legal framework that will enable farmers for engaging with processors and aggregators , large retailers , exporters in a transparent way. Risk mitigation for farmers , assured returns and quality standardization shall form integral part of the framework.
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