The Centre’s proposals for the agriculture sector in Union Budget 2016-17 are aimed at the overall development of the farming sector, according to S.R. Satishchandra, President of Campco (Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative) Ltd.
He told BusinessLine that the increase in allocation to the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana to ₹19,000 crore during 2016-17 is a significant move aimed at improving connectivity between farmers and the market. This will help transport farmers’ produce to their target markets efficiently, he said.
Referring to the boost to the dairy sector in the Budget, he said this would help women’s empowerment in the country in a big way. (The Centre has announced four new projects in the Budget to make dairying more remunerative to farmers).
Nearly 70 per cent of dairy farmers in India are women. The Budget proposal to boost the dairy sector would help their empowerment in a big way, Satishchandra said.
Apart from this, production of good quality milk will also pave the way for providing better nourishment to children of the country. This will lead to the creation of a healthy society, he said.
On the initiatives aimed at making optimal utilisation of water resources and creating new infrastructure for irrigation and conserving soil fertility with balanced use of fertilisers, he said for the first time a government was thinking on these lines. These initiatives would help make India the food bowl for the rest of the world in the years to come, he added.