Uttar Pradesh government with the state budget draws a road map for 2022 assembly elections to retain power. After the budget presented by the Central government, the Uttar Pradesh budget focuses on boosting agriculture in the state.
Expectations from Uttar Pradesh Budget
Following the Modi government’s cues, the UP government will allocate a major chunk of funds to the farming sector. The step will be in line to support and increase farmers income. Around 77% of the Uttar Pradesh population (22.39 crore) lives in the rural area and the majority of it depend on agriculture for livelihood. The state has around 165.98 hectares (11.8%) of cultivable land. Its agriculture makes 25.6% of the state’s GDP.
Loan waiver and Budget Increase
Uttar Pradesh budget may focus on loan waivers as the government has already implemented the loan waiver scheme, benefiting more than 56 lakh farmers. The state’s agriculture budget was increased from Rs 4,096 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 10,378 crore in 2018-19 for loan waiver scheme. However, it came down to Rs 6,231 crores in 2019-20.
Arrangements for Quality Seeds
The UP government is also planning to provide quality seeds to farmers. State Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi stated that quality seeds can increase yield by 20%. Besides, the government will take steps to ban spurious seeds by introducing bar codes on seed packets. Further, the government is set to establish agri-export zones in different parts of the state. Also, the government is planning to improve seed exports of the state by creating clear regulations.
Moreover, the government would also focus on research and development in the seed sector. This would promote ease of doing business for small and medium companies. Besides, Ashwani Kumar, Joint Secretary (Seeds) at Agriculture Ministry stated that developing seed hubs in every agro-climatic zone will help farmers.
The Need
Though UP ranks top in the production of wheat, sugarcane, potato, its 92.5% farmers (2.33 crore) are under the small and marginal category. Therefore, the government needs to bolster the income of the farmers by focusing on agricultural productivity. Besides, the government must focus on improving farm mechanization for increasing food grain production.
The UP government has presented Rs 5,12,860 crore budget and has allocated much to support agriculture.