Arun Jaitley starts pre-Budget meets with agri sector

Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday held the first pre-Budget consultation meeting with the agriculture sector.

The Union Budget 2018-19 is likely to be presented in Parliament on February 1 next year.

In his opening remarks, Jaitley said in order to achieve the goal of doubling the farmer’s income by 2022, there is a need for better storage and marketing facilities for the farmers produce so that they get better prices.

Agriculture experts suggested providing income security to farmers among other measures as it provides employment to 48.9% of the total work force in India, although their contribution to the GDP is less than 20%.

During the meeting, it was suggested that Budget 2018-19 is an opportunity to shift to ‘farmers’ policy’. To ensure the delivery of remunerative prices to farmers, the ‘price deficiency payment mechanism’ must be implemented immediately for those crops where procurement cannot be ensured, according to a finance ministry statement.

Other suggestions included that the Centre should declare an ‘agriculture debt relief package’ for the entire country. It was also suggested to double the number of farmers receiving loans up to Rs 2 lakh at the interest rate of 1% only.