AGRICULTURE Budget 2018-19 WISH LIST

Key challenges

Small landholding: Since the bulk of farmers have less than 2 hectares of land, there is a difficulty in getting the benefits of ‘economics of scale’

Limited access to technology and extension: Farmers still do not have access to better technology. Also, effective dissemination of information from lab to land remains a challenge

Storage: We need to come a long way in terms of availability and access of agricultural storage facilities for farmers

Price volatility: The agri sector faces the Cobweb phenomenon, so there always exists a need to ensure farmers get remunerative prices

Market integration: Farmers need to be better connected to the end-consumer. The number of stakeholders across the value chain needs to be reduced

AT A GLANCE

$252.82 bn Combined gross value added (GVA) by agri, forestry and fishing at constant prices in FY17 20% The industry’s CAGR from FY14

to FY17 58% The proportion of India’s population for which agri is primary source of livelihood $148.74 billion

Allocation to the sector and for and welfare of farmers in Union Budget 2017-18 $2.45 bn

Combined FDI equity inflow into agri services and machinery sectors from April 2000 to June 2017, according to DIPP data $7.81 bn

FDI equity inflow into the food processing sector during the same period

Industry ask

Better environment for start-ups in food and agri business

Greater technological investments in the field of agriculture

Simplified leasing norms for setting up processing infrastructure

Corporate farming norms to be made more acceptable and balanced for both farmers and corporates; buying and selling outside APMCs

Increased involvement of private players for increasing storage infrastructure

eNam should be implemented seamlessly over all markets and commodities

Better mechanism for price stabilisation of agri commodities