Reducing farm wastage

New fund should help boost agricultural infrastructure

Viewed against the annual agricultural credit target of Rs 15 trillion set in the 2020-21 Union Budget, the newly created agri-infrastructure fund of Rs 1 trillion, to be disbursed over the next four years, appears rather trivial. But its significance lies in its need-driven objective of augmenting the agricultural infrastructure for handling farm produce to cut down post-harvest losses, generate additional employment, and bolster farmers’ income. This, in turn, can be expected to boost rural demand for industrial goods and services to aid, even if tacitly, the other sectors of economy.

Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, the new