CHANDIGARH, FEB 25
Out to translate the vision of the Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, to double the income of farmers, and transform the agriculture sector by taking the diversification route, the Finance Minister, Capt Abhimanyu, has raised the outlay for Agriculture and Allied Services to Rs.3,834.33 crore in BE 2019-20, as compared to Rs. 3670.29 crore in 2018-19 BE.
Presenting his Budget for 2019-20--his fifth in a row—to the Haryana Assembly today, the Finance Minister said the state government planned to transform the agriculture sector completely by diversifying the focus from crop husbandry to horticulture crops, animal husbandry and fisheries in the coming years, and making these sectors holistic, integrated, progressive and futuristic.
Further, guided by the vision of the Prime Minister of transforming our farmers from “annadata to urjadata”, the state government has undertaken several initiatives in the field of renewable energy which include (i) notification of Bio Energy Policy-2018 to promote biomass energy projects in the state.Under the policy, target has been to set up projects of 150 MW by 2022, (ii) installation of grid connected roof top solar power plants of 18.0 MW capacity in 2018-19 and 30 MW in 2019-20, (iii) implementing a scheme to provide solar water pumping systems to farmers to meet their irrigation needs.
Under this scheme, farmers are being provided 2 HP and 5HP solar water pumping systems with 75 per cent State Subsidy and 25 per cent user share, and (iv) The Government also plans to install 50,000 off-grid solar pumps of 3 HP to 10 HP capacity to be implemented with loan from NABARD, with 75 per cent state subsidy, in two phases. 15,000 pumps are planned to be installed in first phase in 2018-19 and 35,000 in second phase in 2019-20. All these efforts will turn our farmers from net consumers to net producers and suppliers of power.
Capt Abhimanyu said efforts were being made to procure maximum quantity of crops for which Minimum Support Price has been notified through the process of pre-registration of farmers under the E-kharid Portal (Meri Fasal Mera Byora). A record procurement of 2.70 lakh tonnes was made in case of mustard and 1.80 lakh MT of bajra, this year.
The state government has initiated Bhavantar Bharpayee Yojana for four horticulture crops, in order to ensure that every farmer recovers at least the cost of cultivation, in the eventuality of drop in market prices. This year, 14,875 farmers have been registered under the Bhavantar Bharpayee Yojana.
Besides, the State government has announced a price of Rs. 340 per quintal for sugarcane this year, which is once again the highest in the country. For the first time, subsidy of Rs 16 per quintal was given to facilitate the payment of sugarcane arrears to the farmers during 2017-18.
Work has been initiated for setting up new thematic market by the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board, e.g. "State of the Art" integrated Apple Market at Pinjore, wholesale market for spices at Sersah in Sonipat district and wholesale market for flowers at Gurugram. A SPV has been formed to establish and manage the proposed International Horticulture Market at Gannaur.
The Finance Minister said in order to mitigate the risk of the farmers, the government had successfully implemented the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, under which against Rs 406.27 crore premium collected from the farmers, an amount of Rs.1,140.98 crore had been distributed to the farmers as compensation in the last three years, which is more than the premium of Rs.818.20 crores paid to the Insurance Companies. Further, adopting a liberal policy, the government has also given compensation of Rs. 12000 per acre, for the crop damage caused by natural calamity.
In the interest of environmental protection, the Agriculture Department undertook an extensive campaign during kharif-2018 for management of crop residue, with the introduction of new agriculture practices and machinery and provided 80 per cent subsidy to 1,194 Custom Hiring Centres and 50 per cent subsidy to 3,582 farmers.
With a view to promoting judicious use of soil and fertilizers, 45.21 lakh ‘Soil Health Cards’ have been issued during 2015-2017, which are now in the process of being renewed, for the second time, by March, 2019.
Horticulture
The state government has prepared “Horticulture Vision” with the aim to double the area under horticulture from the present 8.17 per cent to 15 per cent and triple the horticulture production in the state by 2030.
In this direction, the Horticulture Department has formed 96 Farmer Producer Organisations covering 34,219 farmers, who will be provided with requisite infrastructure of pack houses and given training in agriculture business operations. This will enable them to sell their produce at a higher price, directly to the retail chains and consumers.A new integrated centre of excellence for Integrated Horticulture Development has been set up at Hodal.
Animal Husbandry and Dairy
In order to provide socio-economic security to the livestock owners of the State, the “Pandit Deen Dayal Uppadhaya Livestock Insurance” scheme has been launched in 2018-19.
With a view to tackling the menace of stray bulls in the state, the Government finalized the procurement of 2 lakh sexed semen for artificial insemination of crossbred and indigenous cattle.
For infrastructure development, it is proposed to construct the buildings of 52 Government Veterinary Hospitals and 115 Government Veterinary Dispensaries during 2019-20.The 20th Livestock Census has been started for the first time in digital form, from the last week of January 2019. A Departmental app is also being started along with the Government of India app, to record the detailed information on each animal with its photo through “Har Pashu Ka Gyan” mobile application using electronic tablets.
In 2019-20, the state government will develop a rapid milk testing facility at each Government Veterinary Hospital level to detect the milk adulteration in rural areas. “Pashu Sanjivni Sewa” on call mobile veterinary services at the door step of farmers, would be provided initially in three districts, (Jind, Yamunanagar, Mewat) as pilot project and the same would eventually be extended in the entire State.
Fisheries
Capt Abhimanyu said the Haryana Fishery Resource Development Authority has been established for the development of water logged areas in Charkhi Dadri, Jind and Jhajjar districts. This will enhance the income of fish farmers by utilizing the 16,000 identified water logged areas. Water area under pisciculture would be raised from 20,000 hectare to 21,000 hectare, fish production from 2.28 lakh MT to 2.41 lakh MT and fish productivity to 11,000 kg/hectare by the end of 2019-20.
“I propose an outlay of Rs 3834.33 crore for agriculture and allied activities in BE 2019-20 as compared to Rs 3670.29 crore at BE 2018-19. This includes outlay of Rs 2210.51 crore for agriculture, Rs 1026.68 crore for animal husbandry, Rs 523.88 crore for horticulture, and Rs 73.26 crore for fisheries”, Capt Abhimanyu added.
Cooperation
The Government has proposed to set up a 60 KLPD ethanol plant in Shahabad Sugar Mill and to modernise two cooperative sugar mills in Panipat and Karnal with a total cost of Rs.750 crore by 2020-21.
Under the ‘Assistance to Milk Cooperatives’ scheme the State Government has provided assistance to purchase 700 Automatic Milk Collection Units / Data Processor Milk Collection Units, to village level milk cooperative societies with the objective to increase transparency and efficiency of milk collection as well as expanding it.
“I propose an outlay of Rs.1396.21 crore in BE 2019-20 indicating an increase of 74.1 per cent over the outlay of Rs. 802.07 crore in 2018-19 BE,” Capt Abhimanyu added.
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