The budget’s focus on increasing productivity of pulses, vegetables and fisheries shows the government’s emphasis on growing more food and eating better besides nurturing India’s ambition to become the food basket of the world. The Budget’s agricultural roadmap, centered around making the sector a primary growth engine, has drawn positive responses for its focus on reducing import dependencies and boosting domestic production.
It also addresses increasing cotton production and export, alongside enhancing agricultural growth in low productivity districts through new initiatives. Increasing the production of long staple cotton is essential to make Kasturi Cotton a success. Kasturi Cotton is an initiative of the government, textile trade bodies and industry with the objective of creating premium value for cotton grown in India. The government has already announced the release of 109 high-yield and climate-resilient varieties of 32 crops, which will take about three years to reach farmers.
Presentation -Dibyabharati Nayak