DSIJ Mindshare

Budget 2017 Expectation: Agriculture Sector

The agriculture sector in India is the biggest sector with a size of about Rs 1.6 lakh crore. The sector provides employment to nine crore persons. The contribution of the agriculture sector to Gross Value Added (GVA) is around 15.4 per cent.

There are various industry concerns such as post-harvest losses, which amount to about Rs 92,500 crore annually. The infrastructure development initiatives for post-harvest products are in their preliminary phase. The losses to crops on account of adverse climatic conditions is another major issue faced by the agriculture economy. The PMFBY (Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana) scheme has been widely accepted by the farmers. The scheme minimises risk of crop failure through insurance, but the overall loss still remains a big challenge. A large cultivable area still remains unirrigated, thereby limiting the per unit productivity of agricultural operations.

Rajiv Tevtiya, Managing Partner & CEO, RML AgTech said, “Looking at GST, the agriculture input taxes will get decreased. In the current budget, we would hope that the government will table policies that will aid the growth of services sector in agriculture. Agriculture sector in India is deficient in terms of extension services, technology services, and knowledge-based technology services. In our view, in order to meet the set income target of doubling farmer’s income by 2022 and to encourage the farmers to adopt these services, the same should be put out of tax bracket. It is imperative that the farmer gets the support of the best technology available and not burden them with any services-based or technology-based taxes. Additionally, development and introduction of mechanisation is the solution for judicious use of inputs. Efficient machinery complemented with knowledge-based services will help the farmer in increasing productivity and thereby enabling farming as a profitable occupation. It will be a good idea for the government to reduce entry barriers for companies offering access to latest mechanised tools, if technology is desired to be adopted at a faster rate.”

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