Sowing seeds for agri R&D

Centre to connect 25, 0001 more evillages' in PhaseIV of rural roads scheme

- SANJEEB MUKHERJEE

The first Budget of the Narendra Modi government's third term in office has promised a comprehensive review of the agricultural research setup in the country and will launch the fourth phase of the rural roads programme, targeted at connecting 25,000 new habitations.

The review of agricultural research will focus on raising productivity and developing climateresistant seed varieties, for which funding will be provided to the private sector and experts will oversee the conduct of this research.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman promised to build large-scale clusters for vegetable production near major consumption centres, pilot projects on digital public infrastructure in agriculture, and a new cooperative policy for the sector.

Agriculture and allied activities got almost ₹1.52 trillion, which is 8.05 per cent more than the Revised Estimate for 2023-24 and also 3.5 per cent more than the Interim Budget had given.

Within this, allocation for the Department of Agriculture Research and Education (DARE), which is the research wing of the agriculture ministry, was retained at ₹9,941 crore, the same as in the Interim Budget.