Farmers Movement Archive

Agri sector gets lion’s share in Haryana budget 2021-22

The agriculture sector grabbed the lion’s share in the Haryana budget that chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar unveiled on Friday with a sharp 21% hike in farming outlay. Already on the back-foot due to the ongoing farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s three farm laws, the Bharatiya Janata Party-Jannayak Janta Party (BJP-JJP) coalition government has attempted to reach out to the disgruntled farming community through the 2021-22 budget proposals. While reiterating the resolve to achieve the national goal of doubling farmers’ income, Khattar said the government was “indebted to farmers” whose “toil and hard work has made Haryana the food bowl of the country.”“Agriculture is the mainstay of our economy and we are committed to doubling farmers’ income and ensuring their wellbeing,” Khattar said in a clear bid to reach out to peasants who have not been letting the ruling party leaders hold government functions in their villages. ‘Har Khet, Swasth Khet’ A special campaign christened “Har Khet Swasth Khet” will be started in the coming fiscal to focus on soil health and help farmers make cropping choices based on soil quality. At least 125 soil-testing laboratories will be established in schools, colleges, and technical universities in 2021-22. Developing additional 1,090 hectares of saline-affected area, 5,000 hectares of fresh water area in the next four years, setting up a centre of excellence at Garwa village in Bhiwani to develop saline-affected areas for shrimp culture, establishing 10 small fish feed mill plant units and a goat breeding centre at Loharu in Bhiwani are among the slew of schemes announced to improve the income of the farmers. “Against ₹5,052 crore outlay of 2020-21, we have increased the agriculture budget by 20.9% with ₹6,110 crore outlay for 2021-22,” Khattar, who also holds the finance portfolio, said in a media briefing. Of the ₹6,110 crore outlay, ₹2,998 crore has been proposed for agriculture and farmers’ welfare, ₹489 crore for horticulture, ₹1,225 for animal husbandry and dairying, Rs125 crore for fisheries and ₹1,274 crore for cooperation. The BJP-JJP coalition government has also proposed to spend ₹5,081 crore on the irrigation sector. Soil health and cropping choicesKhattar said the objective of “Har Khet Swasth Khet” is to provide an end-to-end solution to farming from soil health, crop choices, inputs, processing and marketing. The campaign for collection and testing of soil samples of each acre will be launched from April, 2021, covering the entire state in coming three to four years. At least 17 new static soil testing laboratories and 59 mini-soil testing laboratories are being established in mandis and government buildings to provide doorstep soil-testing services to farmers. Khattar said about 125 soil-testing laboratories will be set up in schools, colleges, technical universities and institutions during 2021-22. “This will benefit farmers on one hand and introduce a unique earn-while-you-learn opportunity to students, on the other,” Khattar said. The students of agriculture and horticulture universities will have mandatory linkage with field-level activities as part of their curriculum. Kisan Mitra Yojana According to Khattar, under the Kisan Mitra Yojana, at least 1, 000 farmers’ ATMs will be set up in the state in partnership with banks. The main objective of this move is to facilitate farmers through multiple services like cash withdrawal, cash deposit, balance enquiry, pin change, new pin generation, mini-statement, cheque book request, Aadhaar number updation, loan request, mobile number updation and registration of problems and feedback etc. Zero budget, organic and natural farming In yet another initiative to make agriculture viable and provide fresh farm produce to consumers, the government plans to promote zero budget farming and organic/natural farming. The target is to cover one lakh acre cropped area under this initiative in the next three years. Training will be provided to farmers in these techniques, while testing and certification laboratories will be established to promote marketing of farm produce grown with these techniques. Other initiatives Three bio safety level-II laboratories, with rapid and RT-PCR diagnostics of avian influenza and other poultry diseases, are to be set up in Hisar, Sonepat and Panchkula. Artificial insemination services to be expanded to goats for genetic up-gradation of breeds and to enhance the income of poor goat farmers. A goat breeding centre is to be established at Loharu, Bhiwani. ₹50 crore allocated to strengthen Gaushalas. A new milk plant, with a packaging capacity of 3 lakh litre per day, is to be set up in southern Haryana to cover the National Capital RegionA new milk chilling plant will be set up at Sherla village of Loharu tehsil in Bhiwani. This plant will process milk to make and market sweet meals under the VITA-based brand name.

Hindustan Times

13-03-2021

Chandigarh