The first-ever exclusive agriculture presented by the DMK government vows to transform Tamil Nadu’s agriculture sector into value-oriented one and farmers into traders/businessmen to improve their income.

“We covered nearly 18 districts to take inputs. We had separate sessions with traders/exporters and agri experts and scientists. Also, our Uzhavan app received 8,000 suggestions from various stakeholders,” C Samayamoorthy, Agriculture Secretary of Tamil Nadu Government told BusinessLine .

The Department also had brainstorming sessions on five Saturdays discussing agri engineering, agri business, farm mechanisation, organic farming and millet mission. “One of the sessions on organic farming went on till 10 pm as people flooded us with ideas,” he said.

Samayamoorthy also said that the government had also invited global agri experts, who are of Tamil Nadu origin, from Boston and Orlando in the US, Canada, Japan, Australia and the Netherlands. These people shared their views in emerging technologies. All the above came in handy as exhaustive inputs for finalising the first agri budget of Tamil Nadu.

Drawing youngsters

While there are three core long term objectives, the key focus areas for transforming the agriculture sector will be turning agriculture attractive for younger generation, promotion of food processing and exports and organic farming. “The average age of our farmer is 50+. We need to attract more young people, as there are immense opportunities for in the areas of floriculture, horticulture, organic farming, honeybee cultivation, nurseries and custom hiring centres, among others as we offer subsidies for young entrepreneurs, said Samayamoorthy.

Since Tamil Nadu has been lagging behind in food processing and exports due to lack of strong focus in the past, a slew of sops has been announced including subsidies for exporters. Also, export zone for moringa, suggested by Agrofood Chamber, is also expected to give a boost to TN’s agri exports as at least 7 districts will focus on growing moringa. A special Export Facilitation Centre will be established in Madurai for boosting exports of moringa.

Value addition

“Value addition will grow the income levels by 25-50 per cent. If a farmer sells rice instead of paddy, he will fetch a better price. Also, if he makes rice powder or something else, it will fetch even higher price. This is where farmers need to be empowered towards value addition,” he added.

A slew of measures are there for promoting organic farming in the state, which was fully into organic farming many decades. The state seeks to revive organic farming as it presents strong potential both in terms of better remuneration for farmers and exports.

Focus on pulses production is also the step in the right direction as the state is in 8th or 9th position in production of pulses among the states in the country.

The ₹34,000-crore exclusive agri budget’s core objective is to create all fundamentals that will help farmers turn into a traders/businessmen. “Farmers have been extended help to produce. Now, it is time to empower them with marketing aspects for their produce so that they fetch higher prices,” said Samayamoorthy.

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