The farmers in the drought-prone Prakasam district, hit hard by the GST regime, expect some relief from Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Union Budget.
The 18% GST on micro-irrigation systems has defeated the very purpose of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) aimed at improving water use efficiency by growing more crop per drop of water, says a group of farmers in Ulavapadu village as drought for the fourth year in succession put paid to their hopes of getting decent returns at least during this year.
After the introduction of the GST, the cost of the farmers’ share for installing micro irrigation systems, which came with 90% subsidy from the State government, had almost doubled to ₹10,000 per acre, complains a farmer CK. Ramakrishna who has deferred his plans for now to install micro irrigation system.
Mr. Jaitley should enhance the subsidy for ultra high density mango cultivation under the centrally sponsored Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture(MIDH) from ₹16,000 to at least ₹50,000 per acre as the cost of cultivation stood at ₹90,000 per acre with planting material alone accounting for 50% of the cost, feels Ch.Venkateswarlu, a mango grower from Mannetikota.
Worried over the diesel price going up on a daily basis, All India Kisan Sabha District State secretary V. Hanuma Reddy wants the Centre to bring diesel under the GST purview to bring down its cost to reasonable levels as the taxes account for 40 to 50% of fuel price.
At least 40% of the farmers in the district, where rain-fed agriculture is in vogue in most parts, use diesel for energising their farm pump sets, he adds while pressing for providing subsidy to the growers to neutralise the increase in the price of diesel, which is also used in tractors, to ₹69 per litre from ₹57 per litre prevailing in 2016.
Prakasam District Development Forum president Ch. Ranga Rao feels that the GST on farm implements has hampered farm mechanisation at a time when the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme has pushed up the cost of labour adding to the woes of the farmers who are struggling to cope with the ever-increasing cost of cultivation on the one hand and un-remunerative prices for their produce on the other. The GST on farm implements should be brought down from 12% to at least 5%, he adds.
Pleading for dovetailing farming with the Central wage employment scheme, he wants the Union Finance Minister to create a farm prices stabilisation fund as the market prices for most of the crops ruled below the minimum support price announced by the Centre with a bias towards consumers.
