The Central Government has proposed to liberalise the export of agricultural commodities as it sets an annual export target of $100 billion as against the current export value of $30 billion.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who presented the Union Budget 2018-19 in Parliament on Thursday, said latest testing facilities would be set up in 42 mega food parks in the country to screen and enhance the quality of exported products.
The Finance Minister also proposed to double the budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Food Processing to Rs 1,400 crore as the sector was growing at an average annual rate of 8 per cent.
He also revealed plans to establish specialised agro-processing financial institutions to aid the growth of the sector.
Also planned a Rs 2,000-crore fund for developing and upgrading agricultural marketing infrastructure, 22,000 rural haats and 585 agricultural mandis.
To promote horticulture crops, which have huge export potential, the budget proposed a cluster-based approach where different clusters would be developed for specific crops in districts known for them.
“Cultivation of horticultural crops in clusters can bring advantages of scale of operation and can spur the establishment of entire chain from production to marketing,” Jaitley said in his budget speech.
He said the government would also encourage organic farming by farmer producer organisations as well as village producer organisations. Similar support would be extended to women self-help groups to take up organic farming under the National Rural Livelihood Programme.
The Minister also proposed a fund of Rs 200 crore for the cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants and associated industry as a large number of small and cottage industries are involved in the manufacture of perfumes, essential oils and similar products.
Besides, the Minister also proposed to extend the benefits of Kisan Credit Cards to farmers involved in fisheries and animal husbandry.