The finance minister announced allocation of `2,200 crores to boost production of vegetables, pulses, oilseeds, millets and fodder in the Budget 2011-12 hoping to control price rise in essential food items.
Towards this end, the finance minister said the government will continue the two existing schemes — one for Green Revolution in eastern states with an allocation of `400 crores and the other to promote pulses production with an outlay of `300 crores.
“The recent spurt in food prices was driven by increase in prices of items like fruits and vegetables, milk, meat, poultry and fish, which account for more than 70 per cent of the WPI basket for primary food items,” Mr Pranab Mukherjee, announcing an allocation of `300 crores for each commodity.
“Removal of production and distribution bottlenecks for these items will be the focus of my attention this year. Though food inflation on an average has declined, it still remains a concern,” he said.
For early take off of new schemes, the finance minister enhanced allocation under the ongoing Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) from `6,755 crores in 2010-11 to `7,860 crores in 2011-12. RKVY provides incentive to the states to invest in the agriculture sector and achieve 4 per cent growth.
To further increase pulses production, the finance minister proposed to provide `300 crores to promote 60,000 pulses villages in rain-fed areas. Noting that pulses production has risen by nearly two million tonnes in 2010-11, he said, “We must strive to attain self-sufficiency in production of pulses within the next three years.” He said pulses production is expected to touch a record 16.5 million tonnes this year against 14.66 million tonnes in 2010.
Concerned over costlier imports of cooking oils, the FM said “We have to pay special attention to oil palm as it is one of the most efficient oil crops” and allocated `300 crores to bring 60,000 hectares under palm plantation by integrating the farmers with the markets. “The initiative will yield about 3 lakh metric tonnes of palm oil annually in 5 years,” said the FM.
adding the domestic production of edible oil meets only about 50 per cent demand. The gap is met through imports.
To meet the increasing demand for vegetables, the FM announced `300 crores to set up vegetable clusters around major urban areas. He stressed the need to establish an efficient supply chain to provide quality vegetables at competitive prices.
The FM also made a provision of `300 to enhance production of nutri-cereals like bajra, jowar, ragi and other millets. “The programme on nutri-cereals would be taken up in 1,000 compact blocks covering about 25,000 villages. This will help improve nutritional security and increase feed and fodder supply for livestock,” said the FM.
The FM further announced a new scheme “National Mission for Protein Supplements” with an outlay of `300 crores “to promote animal-based protein production through livestock development, dairy farming, piggery, goat rearing and fisheries in selected blocks.”
In order to maintain an adequate supply of fodder for sustained milk production, he proposed to provide a budget of `300 crores for fodder development in 25,000 villages.