By Prabhudatta Mishra
The Centre’s decision to focus on implementing long-pending reforms and boosting capital investment for expanding infrastructure in the agriculture sector, despite demands from farmers’ leaders for direct financial resistance, has been based on a positive outlook on the sector’s growth.
Prediction of a normal monsoon, higher-than-normal water levels in reservoirs, good start to sowing
of early-kharif crops and higher fertilisers sales point towards making available liquidity at farmers’ hands
to achieve another bumper output.
Out of Rs 20-lakh-crore package announced to steer the economy move forward, the government has provided Rs 3.64 lakh crore as additional credit and Rs 14,000 crore budgetary support (maximum since details of the schemes are yet to be announced) for the agriculture and allied sectors such as animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries this fiscal. In addition, farmers are also going to reap the benefits of investment that the government targets in the micro and small units in food processing sectors.
The IMD last month predicted this year’s monsoon rainfall to be 100% of the long period average (LPA)
of 88 cm.