The budget for agriculture runs contrary to the expectation that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah would come out with a series of sops for the farming sector with an eye on the forthcoming Assembly elections. Its focus is on dryland farming in the wake of the State accounting for the largest amount of drought-prone land in the country next to Rajasthan.
The budget has proposed a direct benefit transfer scheme for dryland farmers through the Raitha Belaku scheme that seeks to provide ₹5,000 a hectare to farmers who cultivate rainfed crops. The amount is subject to a maximum of ₹10,000 per farmer. About 70 lakh farmers are expected to benefit from this scheme, which will cost the exchequer an additional ₹3,500 crore a year.
The budget has also earmarked ₹600 crore for continuing the government’s flagship programme of Krishi Bhagya that will help dryland farmers.
Organic farming
The government has proposed to increase the extent of organic farming cultivation in the State from the present 1 lakh hectares to 1.5 lakh hectares in the next three years, under a cluster model. Similarly, ₹24 crore has been allocated for increasing the area of cultivation of minor millets from 42,000 hectares to 60,000 hectares.
The budget also proposes to popularise the direct seeded rice method that conserves water by 35% when compared to the traditional transplantation system.
While a research centre in the name of the late farmers’ leader M.D. Nanjundawamy is being set up on the Gandhi Krishi Vijnana Kendra campus of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru, an agricultural research centre has been proposed at Muddebihal of Vijayapura district. A new agricultural college has been proposed for Chamarajanagar district.
In the horticulture sector, the budget has proposed promoting cultivation of exotic fruits. Also, an allocation of ₹10 crore has been proposed for integrated pest and nutrient management of horticultural crops on about 1 lakh hectares of land.
Apart from promoting hydroponics technology for certain vegetable crops in urban and peri-urban areas, the budget also includes a scheme for rejuvenation of coconut plantations over five years.
Experts feel the budget should have proposed some concrete measures to make farming a sustainable activity through better access to marketing and upgrading of infrastructure, especially in the post-harvesting and processing stages.
