Budget 2017: Agriculture Credit Target Set At Record Rs 10 Lakh Crore

After reports of farm distress and suicides in the past year, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced a slew of sops for farmers including an ambitious target of providing credit of Rs 10 lakh crore in the financial year 2017-18.

Jaitley said that the agriculture sector is set to grow at 4.1% in the year and the government will aim to provide a record high funds as credit to the farmers.

“We will take special measures to ensure adequate flow of credit to underserved areas such as the eastern regions and Jammu and Kashmir,” Jaitley said during his Budget 2017 speech.

“For a good crop, adequate credit must be available to farmers in time,” Jaitley said, adding that the farmers will also benefit from the 60-day interest waiver recently announced for loans taken from co-operative societies.

About 40 percent of the small and marginal farmers avail credit from the primary agriculture societies, which act as a front for loan disbursements, Jaitley said in the Budget 2017 speech.

Also Read: Government Targets Fiscal Deficit Of 3.2% Of GDP In FY18

Claiming that crops sown during both kharif and rabi seasons were higher than the previous year, Jaitley said that the government will support NABARD in computerisation. This will be done in three years at an estimated cost of Rs 1,900 crore.

At the same time, Budget 2017 increased the target coverage under the Fasal Bima Yojana from 30 percent last year to 40 percent in the next and subsequently to 50 percent of the cropped year in 2018-2019. Jaitley said a proposed sum of Rs 9,000 crore is being set aside.

A dedicated micro-irrigation fund will also be set up under NABARD with an initial corpus of Rs 5,000 crore. To ensure that farmers get better prices for their produce, the FM said that e-markets will be extended to 500 Agricultural Produce Market Committees.

The total allocation for agriculture, rural and allied sectors for the year 2017-2018 stands at Rs 1.87 lakh crore.

Also Read: Highest Ever Allocation For MGNREGA At Rs 48,000 Crore, Says Jaitley

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