3 key things that Indian agriculture industry is expecting in Budget 2015

It is a known fact that India is an agrarian economy. No wonder, agriculture remains one of the key focus areas for the Indian Finance Minister while drafting the yearly budget. Do you know what his plans for this industry are this year? Well, the industry doesn’t know that either. We got in touch with few industry experts to know what their expectations are from the Budget 2015, and here they are.

Reforms

People in this industry are hoping that with an increasing focus on developing agriculture sector to meet the food security demand in the country, the government will also introduce reforms in agricultural practices.

MK Dhanuka, managing director, Dhanuka Agritech Limited, told BI, “Lack of technical know-how and awareness of superior farm inputs, among farmers is another challenge. Government has attempted several approaches specially targeting marginal farmers; however present dismal state of farmers shows lack of effective implementation of these schemes. Major overhaul of the sector is the need of hour.”

He further added that the government should take several initiatives to educate farmers about the importance of different pesticides and chemicals for better productivity. “Plant protection chemicals play an important role in reducing wastage and losses of food. It is an important farm input. Sadly, the yield per hectare in India is much lower, compared to developed countries. Every year, crops worth crores of rupees are wasted due to pest attacks and diseases,” noted Dhanuka.

Financial assistance

The sector has been facing severe credit crunch since the beginning and players in this industry have time and again emphasized on the need for more pro-active measure to boost financial assistance to the farmers. “Agricultural credit is another area of concern. Rural areas have very low penetration of institutional financial credit,” stated Dhanuka.

Besides, the sector has also failed to attract any substantial investments in recent times. Even Sandeep Sabharwal, CEO of SLCM Group, an agri logistics and warehousing company, agreed with the fact. He said, “There has been an ever standing demand for efficient infrastructure to control the post harvest losses in the agriculture sector. It is extremely significant to augment post harvest logistics to encourage enterprises by subsidizing the sector which in turn will empower the stakeholders. It is tragic that despite of strong dependence on agriculture sector, it accounts for only 16% of our GDP. The importance of Agriculture in India can be summarized by the fact that more than 58% of the population of India is still associated with the agriculture domain.”

Cut in excise duty
The industry has also demanded a cut in the excise duty for agrochemicals in order to support better yield and make it more accessible for the farmers. “Current government’s commitment towards GST implementation and improving overall infrastructure will have far reaching impact on the agriculture industry. These steps will not only help in creating a better business environment, but also improve the profitability from the farm produces.
Image: Indiatimes.com