On the occasion of India's presidency of the G-20, through the theme 'One Earth, One Family,One Future', a one-day workshop was organized today at Noronha Administrative Academy, Bhopal on the Madhya Pradesh Farm Gate App and Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), with the aim of encouraging the sense of global unity and increasing the participation of women in the field of agriculture. The main objective of this workshop was to increase the participation of womenin the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) and M.P. Farm Gate.

 

Smt. G.V. Rashmi, Managing Director, Mandi Board, in her address, gave information related to the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) in Madhya Pradesh, as well as highlighted the features of MP Farm Gate App developed by the Mandi Board. Conveying his compliments, Madhya Pradesh Agriculture Minister Shri Kamal Patel, in his video message, called for the widespread use of the AIF scheme and the MP Farm Gate App.

 

Joint Secretary (Agriculture Extension and Agriculture Infrastructure Fund), Government of India, Shri Samuel P. Kumar, in his address, mentioned that the AIF scheme has been widely publicized in Madhya Pradesh, in which, till date, about 2,753 projects have been set up by women entrepreneurs, availing the benefits of this scheme widely. Madhya Pradesh is at the first place in comparison to other states in the outreach of the AIF scheme. He gave detailed information about the scheme. While participating in the workshop, Shri Ashok Varnwal, Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh, highlighted the important role of MP Farm Gate app. He said the app made it convenient for the farmers to sell their produce on the app, fetching remunerative price for their crops.

 

Around 200 participants attended the workshop. In the workshop, the participants were made aware about the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) scheme. Details were given by the experts from Agriculture Department, NABARD, Horticulture, APEDA, Banks and other organizations. Doubts among the participants were resolved during the question-answer session in the workshop. Information about the MP Farm Gate App was also given to women farmers, agricultural entrepreneurs, businessmen etc. At the end of the workshop, Additional Director of Madhya Pradesh State Agricultural Marketing Board, Shri D.K. Nagendradelivered the Vote of Thanks.

The government plans to launch an Atmanirbhar Clean Plant Programme to improve the availability of disease-free quality planting material for high-value horticultural crops. The total outlay on the project is estimated at Rs.2,200 crore. It is likely to boost several horticultural crops including fruits, vegetables, spices, plantation crops and flowers among others.

 

Though the fine print on the exact contour of the programme is not readily available at present, the industry expects the project to help improve crop productivity and yields to great extent.

 

Horticulture is estimated to contribute close to 30 per cent of the agriculture Gross Domestic Product (GDP) using only 13.1 per cent of gross cropped area. However, the sector faces the problem of post-harvest losses, lack of storage infrastructure, price seasonality and market volatility among others, industry sources said.

 

Production doubled

Horticulture production in India has more than doubled from 146 million tonnes (mt) in 2001-02 to 329.86 mt in 2020-21 whereas the production of foodgrains increased from 213 mt to 308.65 mt during the same period, said a study by NABARD in 2021.

 

According to Karthik Jayaraman, Co-Founder and MD, WayCool Foods, disease infestation has been a dire problem affecting 35 per cent of total crop productivity. The Atma Nirbhar Clean Plant programme with a budget allocation of Rs.2,200 crore will offer farmers access to the availability of disease-free, clean planting material, benefitting crop yield in large numbers.

 

The government has emphasised the need for inclusive development and green growth and this would be incomplete unless regenerative agriculture is boosted for better yield and productivity, said Vivek Nirmal, CEO, KisanKonnect Safe Food. 'The launch of an Atmanirbhar Clean Plant programme is one step in this direction and the clean plants will increase the supply of disease-free and quality planting materials such as seeds for better crops,' he pointed out.

 

The funds under the programme should be used for indigenous seeds and not for GM hybrid seeds, said Ruchit Garg, Founder & CEO, Harvesting India. 'We as a country have to save our indigenous varieties if we want to have food sovereignty. It is also expected that some money should go towards the research on the indigenous varieties rather than on hybrid GM seeds. The indigenous varieties are better in terms of nutrition as well as drought and flood resistance,' he said.

Corporates like ITC, Tata Consumer will push more millets as the budget envisages India becoming a global hub for Sri Ann or Millets. India is already the largest producer and second largest exporter of millets and the continued focus on domestic production, consumption and export potential will help us to earn foreign exchange. The prices of millets will remain steady following the government's move, industry experts said.

 

ITC has already introduced a number of millet-based products under the Aashirvaad Nature Superfoods brand including ragi flour, gluten free atta, multi-millet mix. Aashirvaad Soul Creations, as part of ITC’s Food Tech Initiative offers millet-based khichdi that can be ordered at home.

 

With India observing 2023 as the 'Year of Millets', the nation is at the forefront to promote millets through the International Year of Millets initiative.

 

The Economic Survey 2023 highlighted that India produces over 50.9 million tonnes (as per fourth advance estimate) of millet, which accounts for 80 per cent of Asia’s and 20 per cent of global production. On average, India's average yield of millet is is 1239 kg/ha, compared to the global average yield of 1229 kg/ha.

 

'The governments strong focus on millets, termed as Sri Anna, will further help drive harvest of and manufacturing of millet based healthy food products, with financial assistance for scaling up Mmillets in the emerging markets. This will also help startups in Incentivizing, training capacity building to farmers to grow millets in a proper format and will financially aid a fair price for the farmers who are growing millets so that they get a good encouragement to continue growing those crops. Additionally, the strong focus on empowering tribal farmers, and tools for green natural farming processes will further help empower and replenish the soil, thereby further enhancing agriculture across the country,'said Sharmila Oswal, Founder and MD of Gudmom.

The incentives announced in the Union budget 2023-24 for the cooperative sector are expected to boost dairy processing industry in the country, said ratings agency ICRA.

 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech said: 'Co-operatives that commence manufacturing activities till March 31, 2024 shall get the benefit of a lower tax rate of 15 per cent, as is presently available to new manufacturing companies.'

 

Shamsher Dewan, Senior Vice President, ICRA said: 'Setting up of new cooperatives, particularly with a view to include uncovered panchayats and villages augurs well for the dairy sector as more small and marginal farmers will be able to participate in organised milk procurement.'

 

The incentives for the cooperatives are likely to increase competition for the private players in the dairy sector.

 

'Private dairy players may start facing increased competition from such cooperatives in these regions. Moreover, low tax rates for new cooperatives which plan to put up manufacturing facilities can give impetus to dairy processing capacity growth,' said Dewan.

 

ICRA thinks that the sector will also receive increased funding availability as part of the higher agricultural credit targets announced, which would incentivise capacity addition and strengthening of supply chain infrastructure.

 

India’s exports stood at $422 billion in FY22, exceeding the goal of $400 billion, noted the Economic Survey 2022 which was tabled on Tuesday. The survey listed a number of factors behind this achievement running from specific export targets to schemes such as RoTDEP.

 

'Some of the factors leading to the achievement of this target were putting in place of targets by the Government, including the setting of specific targets – countrywise, product-wise, and Export Promotion Council-wise; monitoring of the targets and course correction where required,' the survey read.

 

It also said that this growth was driven by a rise in demand for products such as chemicals, textiles, petroleum, cotton yarn, and engineering goods.

 

'India was able to leverage the gap in the supply of certain products in the wake of the pandemic-related disruptions and meet the global demand,' the survey noted.

 

India’s agricultural exports registered the highest ever export in FY22 standing at$ 37.8 billion and continued to excel in FY23 with exports of $26.8 billion during April- November 2022.

 

The survey highlighted that this growth was driven by an effective agriculture export policy and support of export promotion agencies including Export Inspection Council, Plantation Boards, and Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA). Further, measures such as online issuance of certificates required for exports helped in growth of agricultural exports.

 

Among efforts which helped in the growth of India’s exports were the Interest Equalisation Scheme, Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme, Export Credit Guarantee, Krishi Udyan scheme, Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme and designating districts as exports hub, noted the Survey.

The Union Finance Minister laid the budgetary proposals for the fiscal 2023-24 in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The Finance Minister called the Budget a blueprint for India@100 (2047).

 

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has set a budgetary proposal of Rs 3287.65 crore for the Ministry of Food Processing Industries for the fiscal 2023-24. However, the Budget proposal of the previous fiscal year was Rs 2941.99 crore while the actual revised budget for the fiscal 2022-23 was 1901.59 crore.

 

Meanwhile, for the current fiscal Rs. 2453.24 crore have been sanctioned for the Centrally-sponsored schemes including Pradhan Mantri Kissan Sampada Yojna (PMKSY) and Production Linked Incentive for Food Processing Industries (PLIFPI) wherein Rs.1530 crore have been proposed for PLI scheme and Rs. 923.24 crore is set for PMKSY.

 

Also, for the Prime Minister Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PM FME), the budgetary proposals are set for Rs. 639.05 crore.

 

According to the budgetary proposals under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana’, the provision is made for financing schemes of (a) Mega Food Parks Rs. 54.80 crore; (b) Infrastructure for Agro-processing Clusters Rs. 81.30 crore; (c) Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure Rs. 196.50 crore; (d) Creation/ Expansion of Food Processing and Preservation Capacities Rs. 320.00 crore; (e) Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages Rs. 5.39 crore; (f) Scheme for Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure Rs. 46.50 crore; (g) Scheme for Human Resources and Institutions Rs. 4.96 crore; (h) Committed liabilities under infrastructure related schemes; (i) Operation Greens Rs. 213.59 crore; and (j) Swachhta Action Plan Rs. 0.20 crore.

Small farmers across the country will benefit from the Budget 2023-24 in which emphasis has been laid on promoting modern farm technologies, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Wednesday.

 

Tomar said the overall budgetary allocation for his ministry has been increased to an estimated Rs 1.25 lakh crore for the 2023-24 financial year, which includes Rs 60,000 crore for the government's ambitious scheme PM-KISAN.

 

'Small farmers will be benefited from the budget. Emphasis has been laid on promoting agriculture sector through technology,' the minister said in a statement.

 

Many important provisions have been made in the Budget for agriculture and farmers' welfare, including hike in farm credit to Rs 20 lakh crore for the next fiscal, promotion of millets and startups, he added.

 

Small and marginal farmers with less than two hectares of land account for 86 per cent of the total cultivators in India.

A number of measures such as tweaks in customs duties on certain products announced in the Union Budget for 2023-24 will help boost the country's exports, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday. He said that despite global economic uncertainties, India's goods and services exports together are registering nearly 14-15 per cent growth.

 

'The world is seeing recessionary conditions and global growth and global trade is also expected to slow down. Despite that when we combine our merchandise and service exports, we are still at quite a sweet spot...We believe that we will close this year also at a double-digit growth in goods and services combined,' Goyal told PTI.

 

He said that merchandise outbound shipments will be 'slightly less' as the whole world is overstocked, high inventories are there, and inflation has caused consumer demand to fall.

 

'As the global economy recovers from these stresses, particularly of inflation, next year we hope to do better even in merchandise exports and the finance minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) has been generous with her budget allocations for the commerce and industry ministry. So I am quite confident that this will give a boost to our exports,' he added.

 

When asked about the tweak in customs duties on certain products, the minister said the finance minister has 'intelligently' calibrated the duties both upward and downward.

 

In the Budget, customs duty on lab-grown diamonds has been removed from 5 per cent earlier.

 

Goyal said that seeds used in lab-grown diamonds (LGD) are essential raw materials which are processed in India and help us create high-quality LGD which have a large market.

 

'LGD exports have grown multi-fold in the last 3-4 years and the industry tells us that there is a potential for adding nearly another 4x or 5x growth in the next few years,' he added.

 

Replying to a question on the announcement about continuation of concessional import duty on lithium-ion cells, the commerce minister said that the government is promoting domestic manufacturing of electric vehicles and these cells are an essential component.

 

'Since we do not have domestic manufacturing (of these cells) as yet, it is essential to continue this concessional duty so that the cost of 2, 3, 4 wheeler EVS can be kept under control and low which will encourage faster adoption of EVs,' he added.

 

Sitharaman in the budget for 2023-24 proposed a cut in import duty on seeds used to make lab-grown diamonds with a view to boosting domestic manufacturing.

 

The minister also announced that the government from April 1, 2013, will launch a revamped credit guarantee scheme for MSMEs with an outlay of Rs 9,000 crore.

The budget is expected to provide a boost across the agriculture value chain, with announcements ranging from increased credit for the sector, investment in fisheries and focus on high-value horticulture crops to setting up of a dedicated fund for agri startups and building of digital public infrastructure.

 

The finance minister has proposed to increase the agriculture credit for the next fiscal year to Rs.20 lakh crore, with focus on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries, from Rs.18 lakh crore for FY23. The budget has also laid emphasis on the fisheries sector, with a new sub-scheme called the PM Matsya Sampada Yojana with a targeted investment of Rs.6,000 crore. The programme seeks to further enable activities of fishermen, fish vendors and micro & small enterprises in the sector, as well as improve value-chain efficiencies and expand the market.

 

The proposed Agriculture Accelerator Fund will aim to encourage agritech startups to find innovative solutions to the challenges faced by farmers, as well as nurture entrepreneurial spirit among rural Indians. Production of high-value horticultural crop will get a fillip as the government has allocated Rs.2,200 crore under the Aatmanirbhar Horticulture Plant programme.

The government proposes to spend Rs.1,150.38 crore on the cooperatives sector in FY24, with Rs.968 crore earmarked for computerisation of some 63,000 primary cooperative agriculture societies (PCAS).

 

The total cost for computerisation of PCAS is estimated at Rs.2,516 crore. The scheme aims to computerise PCAS, leading to an increase in its efficiency, profitability, transparency and accountability.

 

'The budget further makes provision to set up decentralised storage capacity so that farmers can store their produce and realise remunerative prices to sell at an appropriate time,' read a statement issued by the cooperative ministry. 'The government will facilitate setting up of a large number of multipurpose cooperatives societies, primary fishery societies, and dairy cooperative societies in uncovered panchayats and villages in the next five years.'

 

The announcement comes close on the heels of the Cabinet decision to set up three new cooperative societies to boost organic farming, seeds and exports, with the aim to push up farm income.

 

As per the budget announcement, new cooperatives commencing manufacturing by March 31, 2024 will get the benefit of a lower tax rate of 15%, while higher limit of Rs.2 lakh per member has been earmarked for cash deposit and loans in cash by PACS and primary cooperative agricultural and rural development banks. A higher limit of Rs.3 crore for TDS on cash withdrawal has been provided to cooperative societies, the statement said.

 

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her budget speech that a national cooperative database for countrywide mapping of cooperative societies will be created for better implementation of the proposed national policy on cooperatives.

 

'Setting up of cooperatives will ensure that there is no distress sale of farm products and farmers get better price for their produce,' Jayen Mehta, incharge managing director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF).

 

In a relief to sugar cooperative mills, the claims for payments made to sugar farmers prior to assessment year 2016-17 will be considered as 'expenditure'. This is likely to provide a relief of about Rs.10,000 crore to the sugar cooperatives, according to the ministry of cooperation. The department was taken out from the agriculture ministry and created into a separate ministry by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July 2021.