Budget 2016: Department of Agriculture may get 30% hike in FY'17 budgetary allocation

New Delhi: The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC) is expected to get about 30 per cent higher budgetary allocation at over Rs 20,000 crore for the next fiscal for implementation of key schemes including newly launched crop insurance programme. [caption id=“attachment_2564552” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] Under the Union Agriculture Ministry, there are three departments – Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC), Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries and Department of Agricultural Research and Education. DAC has received an allocation of Rs 15,500 crore for the current fiscal against budget estimate of Rs 16,646 crore. Sources said the DAC has sought over Rs 27,000 crore budget for 2016-17 fiscal keeping in view the implementation of major schemes, especially Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMSKY), Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojan (PMFBY) and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) and Krishi Unnati Yojana. “The agriculture ministry is pursuing with Finance Ministry to allocate more funds in order to achieve the desired growth. It is indicated that the plan budgetary allocation for DAC may cross Rs 20,000 crore in 2016-17 fiscal,” the sources added. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the 2016-17 Budget on February 29. More funds are expected to be allocated for new crop insurance scheme, PMSKY and RKVY. However, the budget allocation for the Krishi Unnati Yojana (KUY) is expected to be lower at around Rs 7,000 crore in the 2016-17 fiscal, as against Rs 7,500 crore this year, they said. The KUY, which was launched in 2015-16 by consolidating various on-going schemes for better implementation, has sub-schemes like soil health management, horticulture, agriculture mechanisation, seeds and extension among others. The agriculture ministry has informed the finance ministry that any reduction in KUY would impact implementation of sub-schemes including soil health card programme, the sources said. Quick and efficient implementation of crop insurance and irrigation schemes are crucial as the country is reeling under back-to-back drought and facing challenges of climate change. Although agriculture contributes only about 13-14 per cent to the country’s GDP, about 50 per cent of the population is dependent on the farm sector. PTI