Chennai, Feb 20 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, MRK Panneerselvam on Tuesday presented the agriculture budget for 2024-25 in the Assembly and announced new initiatives aimed at improving soil fertility and encouraging farmers to cultivate traditional paddy varieties that could help fight diabetes.
In his budget speech, Panneerselvam said Rs 42,281.8784 crore (FY-25) has been allocated in the demand under Agriculture and other related departments.
While Rs 10,500 crore is for food subsidy, Rs 500 crore will be allocated as incentive for the Tamil Nadu government's paddy procurement, he said.
For 2024-2025, Rs 16,500 crore has been fixed as target for crop loan disbursement. Input subsidy to the tune of Rs 208.20 crore will be disbursed shortly to 2.74 lakh farmers towards yield loss due to natural disasters in the southern districts.
Eligible farmers who have supplied sugarcane to sugar mills for the 2023-2024 crushing season will be paid a first-time-ever Special Incentive (SI) of Rs 215 per MT over and above the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) announced by the Centre, as against the already given SI of Rs 195 per MT, the minister announced.
The government is committed to compensate the state discom Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) for tariff-free power supply to farmers, by paying it Rs 7,280 crore, Panneerselvam said.
Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, two lakh works will be carried out at a cost of Rs.7,000 crore, the minister said.
The Minister said the indiscriminate use of chemical fertilisers, herbicides, and pesticides, has led to a decline in overall soil fertility.
Recognising the imperative to shift towards sustainable and chemical-free agricultural practices for the well-being of society, he said a new flagship scheme the 'Chief Minister’s Mannuyir Kaathu Mannuyir Kaappom Scheme' (CMMKMKS) with 22 components will be implemented at an outlay of Rs 206 crore during 2024-2025.
The CMMKMKS translates to Chief Minister's scheme to protect lives by preserving living organisms present in the soil. The objectives of the CMMKMKS includes initiatives to encourage sustainable practices, developing special 'climate smart' villages and ensuring soil fertility.
Under the 22-point scheme, Panneerselvam said that cultivation of traditional paddy varieties with medicinal properties would be actively promoted.
Referring to the wholesome dietary practices of ancient Tamils, he said: "To promote a healthy lifestyle, the cultivation of traditional varieties with medicinal properties, such as Sivan Samba, known for its diabetes controlling attributes, will be actively promoted. In 2024-2025, these specific seed varieties will be distributed to farmers, to cover an area of 1,000 acres."
Under the 'Nel Jayaraman Mission' to conserve traditional paddy varieties, seeds of varieties including Arupadham Kuruvai, Sivan Samba and Karuppu Kavuni are being produced in state seed farms and distributed to farmers.
During the financial year 2024-2025, 200 MT of traditional paddy variety seeds will be produced in state seed farms for cultivation in the following year in an area of 10,000 acres in all districts for which Rs 50 lakh will be allocated.
The minister said that Azadirachtin, an active ingredient found in neem-based products, stands out as an excellent pesticide, which can be used without harming the environment. Neem saplings will be distributed for this purpose.
"Neem leaves are also used as green leaf manure. To promote the cultivation of neem trees, during 2024-2025, 10 lakh neem tree saplings will be distributed to farmers at no cost for which Rs 2 crore will be earmarked under the agroforestry scheme," Panneerselvam said.
Farmers will be encouraged to take up organic farming, and be given training and for this initiative, Rs 38 lakh will be allocated. For 2024-2025, an allocation of Rs 20 crore has been earmarked for the distribution of green manure seeds to cover 2 lakh acres benefitting 2 lakh farmers. To produce vermicompost and to improve soil fertility, 10,000 farmers will be provided two vermicompost beds per farmer (total outlay Rs 6 crore), the minister said.
In addition, he said that comprehensive soil health campaigns would be organised across all villages.
The agriculture minister announced the government would develop special 'climate smart villages', which would demonstrate climate change mitigation technologies to farmers and other stakeholders.
Panneerselvam said that climate change is likely to present significant challenges to biodiversity, crop yields, and food security in the coming two decades.
Hence, the use of appropriate technologies is crucial to mitigate the effects of climate change and safeguard against crop loss.
"To achieve this, special climate smart villages will be developed, demonstrating climate change mitigation technologies to farmers and stakeholders, besides spreading awareness. A budget allocation of Rs 1.48 crore will be made for this initiative," he said.
To enhance soil health and productivity, research on soil microbiome engineering will be undertaken to not only evaluate but also develop microbial consortia (groups of diverse microorganisms that have the ability to act together in a community) for the decomposition of organic matter, including crop residues. This will increase soil carbon and convert unavailable nutrients into available forms. An allocation of Rs 1.39 crore will be made for this," the minister said.
All such initiatives announced by Panneerselvam forms part of the 22 components of the new state scheme CMMKMKS.
This is the fourth agriculture budget of the DMK regime. Andhra Pradesh had also presented an exclusive farm budget.