Budget 2012: Rationalise subsidies to the agriculture sector, asks Bharat Krishak Samaj

NEW DELHI: The upcoming Union Budget must focus on agriculture policy reforms and removing misdirected subsidies to ensure the sector reaches its full potential, the Bharat Krishak Samaj said.

“Farmers want the budget to jumpstart India on the long journey towards achieving the twin objectives of making agriculture a profitable profession and sustainable agriculture productivity increases," said Ajay Jakhar, chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj.

He added that the budget allocation for agriculture infrastructure and agriculture research and development needs to be tripled.

"We must focus on extension services and agriculture policy reforms. Policy and subsidies need to be rationalized and targeted to achieve specific objectives rather than be generalized for the whole country,” Jakhar added.


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The farm sector and industry lobbies are campaigning for a greater focus on the sector in the runup to the Budget.

In its pre-Budget memorandum, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said the sector needs to grow at a faster pace if the GDP has to return to an 8-9 percent growth trajectory.

"For GDP to increase at 8-9 per cent, the agriculture sector needs to grow at more than 4 per cent. To increase productivity in the entire agri and food supply chain, incentivising corporate investments in modern farming techniques, provision of scientific agri inputs and agri extension must be incentivised," CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee said.