The Union Budget 2022, presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha, emphasizes taking agriculture on a sustained higher growth trajectory with an emphasis on digital infrastructure and incentivizing investments through a public-private partnership. It addresses the core issues of livelihood generation, which aims at improving farmer incomes and building climate resilience.
The budget estimates the total expenditure in 2022-23 at ₹39.45 lakh crore, projects a fiscal deficit of 6.4 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the country’s growth rate of 9.27 percent in the coming year.
The budget has brought in a pool of opportunities for the agriculture sector, revolutionizing the technology and bringing in new areas of development. The substantive enhancement of public expenditure will create an exponential impact on growth and competitiveness.
Key Highlights of the Union Budget 2022-23 for the Agriculture Sector
- The year 2022-23 is declared the International Year of Millets.
- It aims at ensuring assured income to farmers with an announcement of Rs 2.37 lakh crore towards direct payments for minimum support price (MSP) to wheat and paddy farmers. It comes just after the farmers held disconcertment demanding guaranteed MSP for farm produce, which led to the government recalling the three farm reform laws.
- The PM Gati Shakti Master Plan for Expressways aims to facilitate faster movement of people and goods and the expansion of the National Highways network by 25,000 km. Hundred new railways logistics hubs will speed up the supply chain, reduce logistics costs, ensure smooth movement of agricultural produce across the nation and help in reducing wastage.
- NABARD will be facilitating funds with blended capital, raised under the co-investment model, for financing startups for agriculture and rural enterprise relevant to farm produce value chain and to support the pandemic hit startups that are thriving in existence.
- Income from ‘virtual assets’ to be taxed at 30% indicates that the government has legalized cryptocurrency as an asset. Also, the launch of blockchain-based digital Rupee starting 2022-23.
- Completion of 80 lakh houses for identified beneficiaries of PM Awas Yojana. Out of which, 60,000 houses will be picked out in rural & urban areas.
- To encourage states to revise the syllabus of agricultural universities to meet the needs of natural, zero-budget and organic farming, modern-day agriculture, value addition and management.
- The government will help boost exports by promoting chemical-free farming. The focus will be on the farmers’ lands in 5-km wide corridors along the river Ganga.
- Promote the use of Kisan drones for crop assessment and spaying of pesticides which can increase agriculture GDP by 1-1.5%
- Expedited land record digitization will bring more transparency to the agriculture sector.
To implement the Ken-Betwa Linking Project, 1,400 crore rs have been allocated. Under the project, water from the Ken river will be transferred to the Betwa river — both tributaries of the river Yamuna for providing irrigation benefits to 9.0 lakh hectares of land, drinking water supply to 62 lakh people, 103 MW of hydropower and 27 MW of solar power.
- The government has increased the budget allocation for the Jal Jeevan Mission to Rs 60,000 crore from the previous fiscal year’s Rs 50,000 crore. The initiative aims to form 5 river links and provide safe drinking water to 3.8 crore households through tap connections from 2022-23.
- The department of agricultural research and education is given a provision of Rs 8,513.62 crore under the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare in the budget.
The growth-oriented budget focuses on four pillars – productivity, climate action, financing investments, and the PM Gati Shakti plan. The budget stepped up the capital expenditure sharply by 35.4 percent to Rs 7.50 lakh crore to attract more private investment and attract growth.
The Budget announcements delighted experts as they believe the emphasis on infrastructure and Capex expansion is the way forward, and it also predicts that India should become a $5 trillion economy by FY26.
