Agri Takes The Digital Driveway

Accelerator fund for agri start-ups, digital public infrastructure for the farm sector, higher agri credit allocation - digitisation is the way to go.

- JOE C. MATHEW

A TRIMMED food and fertiliser subsidy bill, reduced allocation for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) Scheme, technology push in agriculture and an attempt to build nationwide decentralised storage capacities through primary agricultural societies mark the priorities and allocations for agriculture and rural development in Budget 2023.

While the cut in allocations towards subsidies and job guarantee scheme helped the government maintain overall budgetary allocations towards agriculture and rural development at the same level or slightly lower than the previous year, technology plans in the form of a digital public infrastructure for agriculture, a centre for excellence in artificial intelligence for developing cutting-edge applications in the farm sector and an Agriculture Accelerator Fund to encourage start-ups have been welcomed by the industry. The plan to create massive decentralised storage capacities through primary agricultural societies is expected to reduce the wastage of farm produce in the long run. But will this futuristic approach actually reap long-term benefits?

"The Prime Minister has been talking about revdi culture, and by reducing subsidies he has walked the talk. The government has saved around ₹1.4 lakh crore from both food and fertiliser subsidies. But how much has been invested in agri R&D, which is the foundation of any innovative and vibrant agriculture?" questions Ashok Gulati, Infosys chair professor, agriculture, ICRIER. In fact the budgetary allocation for the Department of Agriculture Research and Education has gone up to ₹9,504 crore in FY24 from ₹8,513 crore in FY23.

But is that enough?