As expected, agriculture and allied sectors have been given top priority in terms of allocations in the budget for 2021-21 presented to the Legislative Assembly by Minister for Finance T. Harish Rao on Thursday with agriculture sector alone getting an outlay of ₹25,000 crore.
It is the agriculture sector that has helped the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) not slipping into red as it did at national level.
As the Minister said in his budget speech, the GSDP has registered a nominal growth of 1.3% in 2020-21, a sharp decline from 13.5% in 2019-20 due to impact of COVID-19 on the economy, against -3.8% at the national level from 7.8% growth achieved in the previous year.
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According to the socio economic outlook released by the government for 2021 along with the annual financial statement, the agriculture sector has contributed a phenomenal 20.9% to the GSDP in 2020-21 in spite of adverse conditions.
At the national level the contribution of farm sector to the GDP is 3% in the fiscal about to conclude.
In 2019-20, the contribution of farm sector to GSDP was 26.2%.
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“The average growth rate of farm sector during 2016-17 to 2020-21 has been 14.5%,” its is said in the document.
“It can be said without hesitation that agriculture sector played an important role even in the difficult time of corona. This has become possible because of the steps taken to re-utilise agriculture and allied sectors since the formation of the State. The progressive initiatives in the agriculture sector have not gone in vain. It is clear, from the development achieved in spite of critical times, that every paisa spent on agriculture has been highly productive,” Mr. Harish Rao said describing the role of farm sector as part of his budget speech.
Farm mechanisation
Recognising the increasing importance of mechanisation in farming, the government has allocated ₹1,500 crore for incentivising farm mechanisation -- including purchase of machinery, tractors and tools.
The Minister stated that a total of ₹14,644 crore subsidy was provided for the purpose during the last five years.
Similarly, the allocation for Rythu Bandhu is ₹14,800 crore, ₹1,200 crore for Rythu Bima, ₹1,730 crore for animal husbandry, dairy development and fisheries.
As announced in the last budget (2020-21), the government has allocated ₹5,225 crore for implementation of the second-phase of farm loan waiver during 2021-22.
With the cultivation of paddy in 52.29 lakh acres this Rabi season, Telangana tops the country, followed by 25 lakh acres in Tamil Nadu and 20.9 lakh acres in Andhra Pradesh.
“People who ridiculed that the Telangana farmers are incapable of farming are now jealous of significant development of agriculture sector in the State”, Mr. Harish Rao said in his budget speech.