In agri, value addition set to be in focus

India will launch new plans and ramp up existing ones to build food parks and post-harvest facilities to boost farm incomes, and formulate strategies to cut the country's reliance on cooking oil imports, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday as she presented the Union interim budget for 2024-25 ahead of the general elections this summer.

- Zia Haq

"Efforts for value addition in the agricultural sector and boosting farmers' income will be stepped up," the finance minister said. The government would expand the application of a novel fertiliser called Nano DAP to all agro-climatic zones, she added.

In all, the interim budget allocated a total of ₹1.17 lakh crore for 2024-25 for the agriculture department, marginally up from funds actually spent (revised estimates) of ₹1.16 lakh crore for 2023-24 and budget estimates of ₹1.15 lakh crore for 2023-24.

Funding for the agriculture ministry's key flagship crop insurance scheme was cut to ₹14,600 crore for 2024-25, down from ₹15,000 crore (revised estimates) spent in 2023-24.

The finance minister said that in the past 10 years, the government gave direct financial assistance to 118 million farmers under PM-Kisan Samman Yojana, a cash handout programme for every landholding agricultural family.