Budget package evades most of needy farmers

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The Union agriculture ministry is faced with the problem of identifying indebted small and marginal farmers under the recently announced loan waiver scheme.

The ministry officials feel that criteria fixed by the Union finance minister, P Chidambaram for identification will not do justice to many needy farmers particularly in dryland and semi-arid areas.

Besides the Budget package is designed to help only 40 million farmers out of 750 million farmers in the country.

Chidambaram while presenting the Budget in the Lok Sabha, last Friday, had defined marginal farmers as having holding up to one hectare and small farmer as having holding up to two hectare.

"The official criteria for small and marginal farmers differs in different agro-geo-climatic zones in the country. In the hilly regions, dryland and semi arid zones, were there is no assured irrigation, the holding sizes of both small and marginal farmers are substaintially higher than that stated by the finance minister. If we are to go by the criteria laid down by the finance minister many needy farmers would be deprived of the desired benefit," said a senior official in the Union agriculture ministry.

According to official records, farmers in the dryland and semiarid regions are more hard pressed and debt-burden due to repeated crop failures on account of erratic monsoon rains. The incidences of suicides are on the rise in the dryland and semi-arid zone where there is no assured irrigation, like the Bundelkhand region in Uttar Pradesh.