Budget plan to bring 1 cr farmers into organic farming foresighted: Bharatiya Kisan Sangh

MADURAI: Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, a farmers’ organisation, has appreciated the Union Budget for the initiation to lead one crore farmers across India into organic farming in the next two years.

The programme will be implemented through scientific institutions and like-minded grama panchayats as per the budget announcement, to take farming on a forward path.

An announcement to make way for 109 high-yielding and climate-resilient varieties of 32 field and horticulture crops was hailed by T Perumal, national vice president, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, Vadipatti, Madurai.

The farmer leader said the stakeholders are happy that 10,000 need-based bio-input resource centres would be established, as per the budget presentation. “More importantly, the budget is aimed at achieving self-sufficiency in pulses and oilseeds by strengthening its production capacity, storage and marketing. As announced in the interim budget, a strategy is being put in place to achieve ‘Atmanirbar Bharat’ for oil seeds such as mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean, and sunflower,” he said.

Perumal also welcomed the announcement on developing large-scale clusters for vegetable production closer to major consumption centres and measures to promote farmer-producer organisations, cooperatives and start-ups for vegetable supply chains including collection, storage, and marketing.

“The other positive side of the Budget is the implementation of the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in agriculture for coverage of farmers and their lands in three years. During this year, a digital crop survey for Kharif using the DPI will be taken up in 400 districts as part of the budget plan,” the farmer leader appreciated.

Moreover, the budget plan also includes bringing details of six crore farmers and their lands into the farmer and land registries, he said. He also welcomed the issuance of Jan Samarth-based Kisan credit cards in five states. But, it’s disappointing that there’s no budgetary allocation for the breeding of indigenous breed cows to facilitate natural farming.

The vice president of the farmers’ association also made a point that the unstable GM technology should not be allowed a back door entry under a false claim of high-yielding and climate-resilient variety.