Memorandum submitted to the Hon’ble Finance Minister at the Pre-Budget 2015 consultation on agriculture:
- Raise Agricultural R&D to 1% of the sector’s GDP moving towards achieving 2% in the next few years.
- Agriculture extension services have collapsed. Announce a 5 year plan to appoint 1 agriculture graduate as extension worker for every 6 villages; create 1 lac jobs.
- Provide a soil card for every plot of land in the country.
- 10 times more funding for propagating organic practices, integrated pest management, bio pesticides & bio fertilizers. Initially, target 10% replacement and more later.
- To increase production of perishables; select 4 districts every year for next 5 years. Choose districts (preferably backward areas) with the ideal combination of weather, soil & water availability. Integrate all food related govt. programs to these areas.
- Additionally direct Small Farmers Agri. Business Consortium & NDDB to jointly launch a mission to grow, store and for controlled distribution of onions, potatoes and tomatoes.
- Special focus on fodder. Require a “Fodder Seed Mission”.
- Start a ‘Sugarcane Development Board’ like National Horticulture Board
- Emphasis on “Agro Forestry” for income generation and increasing forest cover.
- Fund indigenous breed artificial insemination standardization, regulatory program so all farmer families can own good milk animals & provide doorstep vet services.
- Fund a white revolution across India. At present target to double milk yield of indigenous milk cattle.
- Fund Gaushala’s with the condition; 40% of total animals in their keep be male cattle.
- Livestock mission for indigenous breeds where insurance premium is paid by government depending on milk yield.
- Review all under implementation irrigation projects and proposed projects. Scrap unfeasible projects.
- Don’t invest in new large projects like inter linking of river basins. Instead fund repair & maintenance of all existing irrigation infrastructure projects, lining of all canal & provide drainage for existing irrigated areas.
- Don’t fund flood irrigation projects, incentivize micro irrigation as infrastructure investment.
- Fund 1 million small water storage reservoirs.
- Distribute soil moisture measuring sensors to all farmers.
- Allow import of agriculture machinery (not tractors) at 0% duty without restrictions.
- Incentivize collective ownership of farm machinery & leasing. All incentives for individual ownership of farm machinery including tractors must be withdrawn. Give interest free loans to cooperative societies / farmer producer organizations to purchase farm machinery repayable over 3 years to lease services to farmers.
- Fund increasing the number of agriculture market yards ‘Mandi’ by 50% & provide full infrastructure in all existing agriculture market yards.
- When funding urban renewal, make it mandatory for cities to allocate space for specific number of farmer markets / Sunday markets in residential areas.
- No restrictions on export of agriculture produce. Need long term Agriculture Exim policy. Ad havoc discretion by government must end.
- Charge max permissible import duty on fresh fruit & vegetables.
- Impose hefty Import duty on imported cooking oil. Incentivize local production.
- More funds for Indian metrological department specifically for improving medium term weather forecasts for agriculture.
- Move to a regime of risk mitigation measures where government pays 50% premium for weather & price insurance for all crops.
- 10 times increased funding for data collection & assessment.
- Double number of loans of up-to rupees two lac given to farmers & for that charge 1% interest only. Subvention is not helping, do away with it.
- Agriculture lending figures are dubious to a great extent. Corrective measures need to be announced so that credit does reach actual farmers.
- Set up a Debt recovery tribunal type authority for farmers to resolve loan disputes.
- Timely release of fertilizer subsidy to manufacturing units. But re-look how subsidies are calculated to the fertilizer sector to plug policy loopholes of excess payments.
- Discrimination in policy – towards fertilizer cooperatives must end – extend scope of Section 115BBD, allow investment allowance to cooperatives similar to private manufacturing sector and they be allowed the flexibility of automatic route borrowings like companies.
- State and Central Coop. Banks be supported to meet Minimum Capital Adequacy Norms by capital infusion or else cooperative banks will fail.
- Interest subvention of 2% in providing short term agri. loans not available on refinance portion of NABARD to such banks. Provide interest subvention on refinance portion.
- NABARD should refinance these banks @ 2.50% as applicable at inception of scheme.
- Plan to make subsidies inversely proportional to size of land holding. Any direct subsidy transfer to farmers can be a positive development provided farmer interests are not sacrificed before implementation.
- Central ministries of Rural Development, Agriculture & Irrigation can be transformed into one powerful ministry.
- To improve governance & ease of doing business appoint a “National Food security advisor” like the NSA to monitor, assimilate & coordinate programs between different departments, ministries & state governments so that there is delivery at grass root level.