He said in the Union Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had laid emphasis on encouraging growth of rural economy – the huge potential to increase the yield by adopting new technologies and improving infrastructure both transportation and storage and to create employment.
He said due to lack of pre and post-harvest technologies, the average corn yield in India per acre is 2.8 quintal as against 9.8 quintal in the United States and world average of 5.6 quintal.
Raju said agriculture products worth Rs. 2 lakh crore and processed food amounting to Rs.53,000 crore were getting wasted for want of required facilities and hoped that with strong will power, the Centre would take steps for proper implementation of priorities listed in the budget.
He hailed the promise to give 50 per cent subsidy to those investing in machinery and equipment in pre and post-harvest technologies to revolutionalise farm sector. “Large quantity of products after getting cut from the agriculture fields is getting eaten by rodents and insects. There is no proper information on soil structure, cropping pattern and weather information and moisture. Timely information on how to maximise yield with less investment will go a long way,” he stated.
Raju said for investments in food processing machinery and equipment the government promised grant of 25 per cent subject to a maximum of Rs.5 crore. This would encourage MSMEs in the rural sector. Food parks would also throw up a lot of opportunities for investors and first-time entrepreneurs in food processing and value addition infrastructure.
He said that improvement in storage infrastructure and cultivation system by adopting the world’s best practices and use of IT for providing best possible price to the farmers for their produce would go a long way in boosting the rural economy.
Source: The Hindu