Farm sector may get 20% more

RUN-UP TO THE BUDGET

Budget 2007-08 is expected to see a 20 per cent increase in allocation for the agriculture sector.

The finance ministry is expected to allocate Rs 5,770 crore in 2007-08, as against Rs 4,800 crore for the current fiscal.

It is also expected to announce a new scheme "" "Rainfed Area Development Programme" "" and allocate Rs 350 crore for it.

In other indications of the proposed thrust on agriculture this year, the finance ministry is expected to raise the allocation to various agriculture-related programmes.

Around Rs 150 crore may be allocated for the National Horticulture Mission, while the allocation for micro-irrigation is set to go up to Rs 1,100 crore compared with Rs 910 crore in 2006-07.

This Budget will also provide additional support to state extension services in agriculture. The finance ministry is expected to allocate Rs 350 crore in 2007-08 from Rs 75 crore in this fiscal.

However, there may not be any increase in the allocation for agriculture insurance despite the rise in the suicide rate of farmers. This section is expected to get the same amount of Rs 500 crore allocated in the current year.

The allocation for the technical mission of cotton will also be enhance to Rs 100 crore from Rs 74 crore in this fiscal. Development and strengthening of seed infrastructure facilities for production and distribution of seeds is also expected to get Rs 300 crore.

The finance ministry is also expected to allocate Rs 40 crore to the Central Agriculture University, according to the recommendations of the Oversight Committee headed by former Karnataka Chief Minister Veerappa Moily and constituted to monitor the implementation of reservation for Other Backward Classes.

The agriculture ministry will also be given Rs 1580 crore for other agriculture schemes.

The allocation for the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries is also expected to be enhanced to Rs 970 crore for 2007-08 from Rs 777 crore this financial year. The Ministry of Agro and Rural Industries is also expected to be given Rs 1,112 crore for the next fiscal.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in a speech at the meeting of the full Planning Commission last December, had said the central government was in the process of establishing a National Rainfed Area Authority to ensure a technically efficient design of watershed development.

"In addition to investment in irrigation, we must take steps to conserve water and promote artificial recharge in rainfed areas," he had said.