Union Budget for Agriculture Expecting Extraordinary Efforts

With an aim to ensure higher productivity, the Government is expected to pay more and adequate attention on agriculture in the coming Budget. Expectations run high. Can we expect a higher budgetary provision, incentives, cheap farm credit, measures for better outcome, efforts for efficient implementation of existing schemes and announcement of a few new schemes?

- BK Jha

Agriculture sector affects the overall growth of economy in multiple ways. Notwithstanding tall claims of the Centre for introducing big reforms and several schemes to push farm productivity and farmers’ income, the quality, delivery mechanism, cost, credit, schemes outcome and programme implementation remain lackluster and unsatisfactory. Post demonetisation, farmers, who were already facing tough times, are eagerly waiting for tangible solutions to put agriculture sector on the path to prosperity.

Expectations run high ahead of Union Budget 2017-18, to be presented by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on February 1, 2017. Obviously, all stakeholders of the sector are keeping their finger crossed. It is expected that Union Budget would be special in many ways. First of all, the Government is departing from the colonial era tradition of presenting it on the last working day of February. Now, it comes on February 1, 2017.

Union Budget 2017-18 comes at a time when Rabi season would be on its peak. Farming community would be much more interested in knowing what is in the store for them. Given the priority accorded to agriculture sector by the Government, it is expected that more money would be infused through Budget for several Central flagship schemes for agriculture and allied sectors. The bigger question is- whether the government would show its willingness to increase the overall Budgetary provision to the sector by allocating 10 percent of its total plan outlay to it? The answer is eagerly awaited. It is obviously an expectation, based on immediate, mid and long term requirements of the sector, and terming it as a wishful thinking would lead to undermine the realistic ground conditions.