India Unveils Plans to Boost Agriculture and Reduce Cooking Oil Imports in Interim Budget 2024

In the recently presented Union Interim Budget for 2024-25, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman outlined key initiatives aimed at enhancing the agricultural sector, increasing farmers’ income, and reducing the country’s dependence on cooking oil imports. The budget allocates substantial funds for the development of food parks, post-harvest facilities, and various agricultural activities.

Budget Highlights:

1. Agricultural Allocations: The Interim Budget allocates a total of ₹1.27 lakh crore for the agriculture ministry in 2024-25, indicating a significant increase from the revised estimates of ₹1.16 lakh crore for 2023-24 and the budget estimates of ₹1.15 lakh crore for 2023-24.
2. Development Focus: The finance minister emphasized that the next five years would witness unprecedented development, with a focus on realizing the vision of a developed India by 2047.
3. Farmers’ Income Boost: Efforts for value addition in the agricultural sector and initiatives to boost farmers’ income will be intensified, according to Sitharaman. The government aims to achieve this through investments in post-harvest activities, modern storage, efficient supply chains, primary and secondary processing, and marketing and branding.
4. Direct Financial Assistance: Sitharaman highlighted the government’s past efforts, noting that direct financial assistance had been provided to 118 million farmers over the last decade under the PM-Kisan Samman Yojana—a cash handout program for landholding agricultural families.
5. Innovative Fertilizer: The government plans to expand the application of Nano DAP, a novel fertilizer, to all agro-climatic zones.
6. Self-Sufficiency in Oilseeds: Strategies will be activated to achieve self-sufficiency in oilseeds, including mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean, and sunflower.
7. Promotion of Technologies and Innovations: Farmer-centric policies, income support, risk coverage through price and insurance support, and the promotion of technologies and innovations through start-ups are identified as key elements for inclusive and balanced growth in the agriculture sector.
8. Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Yojana: The scheme has reached over 200,000 self-help groups and 60,000 individuals with credit linkages.
9. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana: A scheme to boost fisheries has benefitted 3.8 million farmers and generated over a million jobs.
10. Electronic National Agriculture Market: The platform has linked 1,361 markets, providing services to 180 million farmers with a trading volume of ₹3 lakh crore.

The budget aims to address the economic needs of rural areas, spur growth, and generate jobs by supporting the agriculture sector. Despite recent challenges, including extreme weather conditions, the Modi government aims to sustain the growth momentum in agriculture.