In an attempt to reach out to farmers whose unrest led to electoral setback in the just concluded parliament polls, the Maharashtra government on Friday announced major sops to agriculture sector in its budget 2024-25.
Under the Mukhya Mantri Baliraj Vij Yojana scheme, the government will bear the burden of electricity bills of farmers and provide them free electricity for use of agriculture pumps upto 7.5 horse power capacity. It will benefit 44.06 lakh farmers, for which a budgetary allocation of Rs 14,761 crore has been made in the form of subsidy.
A financial assistance of Rs 5,000 per hectare has been provided to cotton and soybean farmers up to two hectares for kharif season 2023-24. Cotton and soybean are among the main crops cultivated in the backward regions of Marathwada and Vidarbha.
Apart from that, a special action plan will be implemented to increase the productivity and value chain development of cotton, soybean and other oilseeds. The government has made a provision of Rs 341 crore for the scheme for the year 2024-25.
To placate the angry onion farmers, especially in North Maharashtra, a Rs 851.66 crore subsidy has been provided at the rate of Rs 350 per quintal. A revolving fund of Rs 200 crore each is being created for assured purchase of onion and cotton.
In his budget speech, Finance Minister Ajit Pawar said, “In an agriculture driven nation/state which is dependent on monsoon, a drastic change in seasonal weather in the past few years due to global climate change has adversely affected the farmers. The objective of our scheme is to provide relief to farmers who are in distress and need assistance.”
While emphasizing that the free power scheme to farmers was well planned with a complete road map, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “The cost of power per unit is Rs 7. But we have high subsidies for farmers at Rs 1.25 to Rs 1.5 per unit. When we completely shift to solar power, the average cost of electricity per unit will work to Rs 3 to 3.50 per unit.”
“We are working towards moving agriculture power entirely on solar in phases. Even now the state government shells out Rs 9,500 crore to cross subsidize the agriculture sector. With agriculture moving to solar energy, the amount incurred on cross subsidy will also decline. The incentive upto 7.5 HP will cover small and marginal farmers entirely and it will also help check excess misuse of water,” he added.
Taking lessons from the parliament polls where onion, cotton and soybean farmers’ anger led to ruling parties’ debacle especially in Vidarbha, Marathwada and North Maharashtra regions, corrective measures have been made in this budget. It also announced an incentive of Rs 1,350 crore to six lakh paddy farmers at the rate of Rs 20,000 per hectare.
The dairy farming, which drives the rural economy especially in Western Maharashtra and partially in other regions of the state, has announced a subsidy of Rs five per liter on cow milk.
The finance minister said, “The government has decided to launch a new dairy business entrepreneurship project. Its aim is to create new entrepreneurship in the fields of animal husbandry, dairy farming, animal fodder and animal feed production to achieve economic uplift of farmers through employment and self-employment and increase productivity of animals. I announce that Rs 5 per liter subsidy will continue from July 2024 onwards to support dairy farmers.”
A subsidy of Rs 223.83 crore has been allocated to 2.93 lakh registered milk producers at Rs 5 per litre. The remaining subsidy will be disbursed immediately.
A new scheme to help farmers titled Atal Bamboo Yojna has also been launched which entails bamboo plantation on 10,000 hectares of private land for which a subsidy of Rs 125 per plant would be extended to farmers. The scheme will start on 1.2 lakh acres in tribal-dominated Nandurbar district.
The revised administrative approval for 108 irrigation projects, of which 61 are expected to be completed in the next two years, will add to 3.65 lakh hectares’ irrigation potential. Through Maharashtra Irrigation Improvement Programme, a canal distribution system of 155 projects within three years to augment 4.28 lakh hectares is also underway.
The Nabard has decided to provide financial assistance of Rs 15,000 crore for irrigation projects in the state.
The Wainganga Nalganga River Linking project will help irrigate 3.71 lakh hectares in Nagpur, Wardha, Amravati, Yavatmal, Akola and Buldhana districts in Vidarbha region by diverting 62.57 TMC of water from Gosikhurd project through Wainganga Nalganga interlinking project.
For the ongoing Jalyukta Shivar Yojna Phase 2, which promises drought-free Maharashtra, a provision for Rs 650 crore has been made in the budget. A total of 49,651 works have been completed till March this year.