NEW DELHI: As anticipation builds around potential announcements for the agriculture sector in the Interim Budget of the Narendra Modi government, farmers and agriculture experts are hopeful of a relief package to address rural distress.
Against the backdrop of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s preparations for another round of protests in Delhi from February 13, their focus remains on key demands, including guaranteed MSP and loan waiver.
Various farmer organisations have put forth primary demands, seeking an increase in the direct benefit transfer under the PM-KISAN scheme, guaranteed minimum support price (MSP) for a wider range of crops, premium-free crop insurance and a comprehensive loan waiver and proper pricing policy for vegetables and fruits.
Farmers are eager for measures that address key challenges such as improving yield, enhancing price realisation, and ensuring stable and assured incomes. Devinder Sharma, an agriculture policy expert and writer, expressed expectations for special relief for the agriculture sector. “The 2024 Budget should aim to alleviate farmers’ distress, especially considering an OECD report highlighting that India is the only country among the 54 major economies where farmers have incurred losses since 2000,” said Sharma.
He called for enhanced support for the PM-KISAN scheme, from Rs 6,000 to Rs 12,000. Farmers also stress the need for a pricing mechanism to protect against fluctuating prices of vegetables and horticultural produce.
Farmers also want the government to announce a policy to protect them from fluctuating prices of vegetables and horticulture produces. “There should be a proper mechanism to fix prices of the horticulture produces as well, so that farmers could be protected when the prices fall below a certain limit,” says Ratan Mann, a farmer leader from Haryana.
Virender Singh Lather, former principal scientist at ICAR-IARI, emphasised the importance of the Union Budget, 2024. “The main emphasis should be on increasing farmers’ income, adopting MSP on C-2 cost and 50 per cent profits formula and ensuring MSP guarantee laws for the sale of agricultural produce,” he said.
Additionally, Lather called for steps to strengthen agricultural processing procedures, particularly for vegetables and horticultural crops, modeled on the patterns of the National Milk Cooperative.