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Farm sector gets major boost
The State government has allocated Rs 4,000 crore towards payment of the final installment of the farm loan waiver scheme during the 2017-18. Stating this in the Assembly while presenting the budget proposals, Finance Minister Eatala Rajender said agriculture and cooperation sector had been allocated Rs 5,942.97 crore.
Hyderabad: The State government has allocated Rs 4,000 crore towards payment of the final installment of the farm loan waiver scheme during the 2017-18. Stating this in the Assembly while presenting the budget proposals, Finance Minister Eatala Rajender said agriculture and cooperation sector had been allocated Rs 5,942.97 crore.
The target for credit disbursal by banks to the farm sector has been fixed at Rs 46,946.98 crore during the ensuing financial year. He said the State government had initiated a series of measures to revive agriculture and allied sectors in Telangana to make agriculture profitable. The farm loan waiver scheme was announced as an immediate measure to provide relief to the farmer in the distress, he said.
He said that though nearly 50 per cent of the State population depends on the agriculture sector, the contribution of agriculture and allied sectors to the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) remained low at 14.7 to 18.3 per cent in recent years. It was against this backdrop that the State government had decided to provide a lasting solution to end the plight of farmers once and for all and to make agriculture in Telangana totally drought-proof.
As part of reviving agriculture, he said that issue of Soil Health Cards (SHC) had gathered momentum and it would be further intensified during the next year. Coverage of farmers under the Fasal Bima Yojana will be higher during the coming year. He said it was decided to continue the State government’s efforts to make Telangana the ‘Seed Bowl’ of the country and establish crop colonies for major crops, he said.
Assuring support to the horticulture sector including the micro irrigation schemes, he said the expenditure on the micro irrigation would be met from the extra-budgetary resources. To address the shortage of storage capacity of agriculture produce, Rajender said 17.07 lakh metric tonnes of storage capacity with an estimated cost of Rs 1,024.50 crore would be added. Out of a total of 330 new godowns, construction of 321 had been grounded and 202 godowns with a capacity of 9.8 lakh metric tonnes had been completed so far, the Minister said.
