In a massive push to agriculture in the Union Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a hike in FY22 agricultural credit targets and funds to augment APMC infrastructure. She said the government was committed to the welfare of farmers. "We have set the FY22 agriculture credit target at Rs 16.5 lakh crore. The Minmum Support Price (MSP) is currently 1.5 times production value. We have spent over 75,000 crore for wheat MSP in FY21, benefitting over 43 lakh wheat-growing farmers. Rs 1.75 lakh crore rice has been procured." Sitharaman said that funds will be made available to APMCs to augment infrastructure.
"Coming to fisheries, we will develop five major harbours as hubs of economic activity. Seaweed farming is an emerging sector that can transform the lives of the coastal citizens," Sitharaman said.
The announcements come amid sustained protests by thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and UP, at Delhi's borders for over two months now, demanding a rollback of the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. The government has offered some concessions including keeping the new farm laws on hold for 1-1.5 years and the Supreme Court has set up a panel to look into the matter while keeping the contentious legislation in abeyance for two months.
