Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told representatives of various agricultural groups that the government is aiming to move towards creating a national common market for agricultural commodities to improve the supply chain.
He said that he was hopeful that with the cooperation of states, the Centre would move ahead on GST and APMC reforms as well.
Jaitley was taking part in a pre-budget consultative meeting with representatives of agriculture groups here.
He informed that the government has taken several measures and policy decisions in last few months to make the agriculture sector more vibrant ,including the setting-up of a warehouse infrastructure fund and a long-term rural credit fund of about Rs. 5000 crore each; and the setting-up of a special fund of Rs. 2000 crore under NABARD, which was announced in the Union Budget for 2014-15 to provide affordable credit to agro-processing units, setting-up of food parks and cold chain projects.
He said the Revised Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Scheme has been re-launched where in the cards have been converted into ATM enabled debit card with facilities of one-time documentation, built-in cost escalation in the limit and any number of drawls with the limit etc.
Jaitley further said that other initiatives include the setting up of agriculture universities in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, a scheme to issue soil health cards to every farmer, establishing a national adaptation fund for climate change, providing finance to five lakh joint farming groups of Bhoomi Heen Kisan, establishing Price Stabilization Fund, and the launch of a Kisan TV channel among others.
Jaitley said that as per estimates of GDP for the second quarter, (July-September) of 2014-15, the growth in the agriculture and allied sectors was 3.2 per cent.
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He said that following the below normal monsoon, the production of total kharif foodgrains is estimated to be 120.27 million tons during 2014-15, as compared to 129.32 million tons in 2013-14 and 117.18 million tons in 2012-13.
He further said that although rainfall deficit was worst felt in Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, the impact on production was limited, as most of the crops in these states are grown under irrigated conditions. He said that allied sectors of agriculture have also shown a good performance.
The finance minister said exports have shown a 3.1 percent growth rate (up to November 2014) and growth rate of imports was 4.4 per cent during the same period. He said that as per the provisions figures available, as against the farm credit target of Rs. 8,00,000 crore for the year 2014-15, an amount of Rs. 3,70,828.60 crore has been disbursed till September 30, 2014.
Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance, Rajiv Mehrishi, Finance Secretary, Ashish Bahuguna, Agriculture Secretary, Dr. Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser, R.K.Jha, Additional Secretary (Expenditure), and representatives of the agriculture sector were present during the meeting.
Suggestions received included fixation of remuneration prices for agriculture crops, incentives to encourage agriculture research, education and extension activities including investments in technological innovations and advancement in agriculture research; and impetus to micro irrigation financing, research and development support to the Pradhan Mnatri Krishi Sanchai Yojana and strengthening of existing irrigation facilities among others.
Some other suggestions included placing greater emphasis on agriculture research and education, grant of allowances for agriculture research, extension and education be raised from the current level of around 0.8 per cent of agriculture GDP to at least 1.5 percent and giving the Indian Agriculture Institute the status of 'Institute of National Importance' etc.