Only cosmetic steps in budget, lament Haryana farmers

Deepender Deswal

Across-section of farmers in Haryana has termed the Budget proposals as cosmetic steps that can hardly help to improve the financial condition of the peasantry.

Farmers say they want the government to deal with their problems to make farming a sustainable occupation. “With the younger generation of farmers losing interest in agricultural activities, the government needs to ensure profitability in agriculture by providing reasonable minimum support price (MSP) through innovative techniques and equipment, besides strengthening the agri-processing industry on a small scale,” they say.

The Vice Chancellor of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (HAU), Hisar, Dr KP Singh says this is a good Budget that expects to fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to double farmers’ income by 2022. “The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data in 2016 showed the farmers’ income at Rs 6,000, which crossed Rs 10,000 in 2019. With two years remaining, the target seems achievable. The agriculture sector is sticking to the deadlines,” he says.

Dr Singh says budgetary allocations have been increased in various agri sectors and doable things classified under 16 points. Fisheries, animal husbandry, agriculture and horticulture sectors have been given specific targets. He states that Rs 40,000 crore in the irrigation corpus and creating a dairying processing infrastructure fund with Rs 2,000 crore are laudable initiatives.

Former secretary of the Haryana Kisan Aayog, Dr RS Dalal, says the Finance Minister has allocated Rs 2.83 lakh crore for the agriculture and rural development sectors, of which agriculture has a share of Rs 1.42 lakh crore. As far as solar energy is concerned, the numbers are meagre, says Dalal. “The FM said they would help 20 lakh farmers set up stand-alone solar pumps. But more than 20 lakh pump sets are operational in only two states — Haryana and Punjab. The national requirement is too big,” he says.

Dalal says the Budget has ignored agriculture education and research. “The announcement of Rs 15 lakh crore for agriculture credit by NABARD for refinancing is almost six times the total agriculture budget. This seems of little use as the farmers are already under huge debt, leading to suicides. The farmers are taking loans through Kisan Credit Cards to meet agriculture requirements. Another share of Rs 15,695 crore was allocated for the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), which is facing protest from a section of the farmers.”

Dalal says the government has come with a welcome decision to fix the target of increasing milk production to 108 million tonnes by 2025. “The government needs to set up small processing units for milk processing in clusters of 5-6 villages instead of roping in big corporates in this sector,” he says, adding that doubling the income seems to be a distant dream. “The food processing sector continues to be off the priority list of the government. The farmers’ input cost will go up when they make efforts to increase the per-acre production. This will again destabilise their financial budget. The income of farmers can be increased by value addition to the product. Thus, the food processing industry should be the priority area of the government if it wants to bail out the farmers,” he adds.

The farmers’ productivity, be it from agriculture or the dairy sector, needs to be linked to social security schemes like the Mid-Day Meal in government schools and anganwaris. “Farmers should be provided such linkages to sell their products. It will also ensure hassle-free implementation of the schemes,” he says.

Sajjan Kumar, a young farmer from Surpura village in Bhiwani district, says farmers want efficient implementation of schemes like the PMFBY and assured MSP. “The Budget is meant for larger policy formation and funding. The farmers have different issues on the ground. We are suffering at the hands of middlemen as a major chunk of the profit is being pocketed by those who procure the produce and the traders associated with the farming sector who provide seed, fertilisers, pesticides etc,” he says, adding that the policies and government initiatives are ignoring the issues and interests of small farmers.

A farmer from Ladwa village, Sube Singh, says though they expect reduction in the input cost like fertilisers and seed, the reduction in subsidy on these things is likely to put more burden on the farmers.