Big share okay, what about loan waiver, ask Delta ryots

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s Rs 35,984-crore budget has evoked a mixed response from farmers though it includes agri-E marketing projects to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore and the extension of Rs 9 lakh crore credit. 

Commenting on the budget, Ku Pa Krishnan, former state agriculture minister and current member of the TN Legislative Assembly, said, “The Finance Minister has stated that farmers will earn double their income by 2022, which seems impossible, because the Union government should first fix the Maximum Support Price (MSP) of crops like paddy, sugarcane and banana so that they can undertake cultivation of certain crops in line with their current market value.”  He, however, welcomed the organic farming scheme, which, according to the budget, would be undertaken across 5 lakh acres in the next three years. 

“The Centre has given paramount importance to organic farming, which will avoid use of chemical fertilisers,” he said, suggesting that the number of cattle should increase for the success of the scheme. 

Delta farmers are glad, for the most part. Speaking over the phone, Mannargudi S Ranganathan, secretary, Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Welfare Association, said, “The budget with regard to the farming sector is very impressive and farmer-friendly. Further, the allocation of funds for agriculture is also huge.” 

However, the Centre should do some homework with regard to implementation. The budget should not remain a ploy to win over voters in the elections, but the announcements made should be implemented within the stipulated time, Ranganathan said. He also pointed out that “if the Centre implements all the agriculturerelated schemes and keeps its word, we can achieve minimum 50 per cent success.” 

Arupathy Kalyanam, General Secretary, Federation of Farmers Associations, told DTNext that “the Centre should formulate a mechanism whereby the Minimum Support Price (MSP) is 50 per cent higher than the actual procurement prices of the crops. Until then, farmers will not earn double what they are earning now.” Farmers also noted that the budget had said nothing about national river linking, which was imperative. 

Welcoming the crop insurance scheme, Mr Kalyanam suggested that the governments should make sure that the benefits reached the recipients on time. 

“Even though the budget allotted Rs.9 lakh crore for farmers’ credit, the Centre should reduce the interest to 4 per cent. At present, the interest goes beyond 9 per cent, and farmers find it difficult to repay agriculture loans,” he said. 

Swamimalai Vimalnathan, District Secretary, Thanjavur Cauvery Farmers’ Protection Association, said, “The big disappointment in the budget is that the Centre did not waive previous agricultural loans to even some extent. Further, there is no word in connection with the sugarcane mills’ pending arrears to farmers.” He welcomed the schemes to do with crop insurance and farmers’ credit. 

Farmers pointed out that the Centre may have announced agricultural loans, but the fact was that nationalized banks were reluctant to disburse them. They felt that there should be a monitoring committee for this.