The Budget could bring good news to the millions of distressed farmers of Vidarbha region in Maharashtra and in the eastern parts of the country.
The government is working on a financial package for farmers in Vidarbha, and is expected to more than double the allocation to bring in green revolution to eastern India. Vidarbha and eastern India are agriculturally critical for the country and have a high number of small and marginal farmers.
For Vidarbha farmers — reeling from the impact of low rains, high inputs costs and diminishing returns on investments, the government is working on a Rs 3,000-crore package likely to spread over five years, to boost irrigation facilities in the rain-starved region. For those in the eastern parts, the allocation to the ongoing Bringing Green Revolution in Eastern India plan (BRGEI)is expected to be raised from Rs 400 crore to Rs 1,000 crore.
| SETTING THE GROUND |
| Vidarbha menu Rs 3,000-crore deal |
| * Focus on irrigation in rain-starved region |
| * Drip irrigation network, check dams to be developed |
| Looking east Rs 600 crore more allocation to green revolution scheme, from Rs 400 crore |
| * Farm mechanisation to get a push |
| * West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, eastern Uttar Pradesh to gain |
The Vidarbha package will entail establishment of drip irrigation network and check dams to make best use of scarce water resources.
If approved, the package could be one of the biggest central government doles to Vidarbha, after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Rs 3,750-crore debt relief package in 2006. This time, the focus is likely to be more on sustainable asset building than on the immediate relief. “The problem of Vidarbha is unique as the region suffers from low rains and lack of long-term agriculture assets,” a senior official said.
Recently, the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) had in a report stressed the need for a financial package to improve irrigation in the region. “There is an urgent need for special integrated watershed management programme for Vidarbha, of around Rs 30,000 crore, dovetailing it with agriculture,” CACP chairman Ashok Gulati told Business Standard.
Vidarbha, comprising Nagpur and Amravati divisions, is known for cotton and oranges. Maharashtra has the largest area under cotton, but only three per cent of the land is irrigated. Gujarat, on the other hand, produces much less cotton but has almost 50 per cent area under irrigation. The boost to BGREI is likely to focus on farm mechanisation. The programme received a grant of Rs 400 crore each in 2009-10 and 2010-2011 Budgets.
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“The absorption capacity of the region has grown in the last two years, hence there is a need to enhance the allocation,” the official said.
BGREI seeks to shift the focus of agriculture from western to the eastern parts of the country by enhancing production of paddy, maize and other crops. In two years, paddy production from eastern India has risen by almost 10 per cent. The programme is run in West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and eastern Uttar Pradesh.