CHENNAI: The government of Tamil Nadu will urge the Central government to raise to 10 hectares the ceiling for availing of micro-irrigation subsidy, from 5 hectares currently. The govt will also seek a reduction in the minimum period to re-avail of subsidy for micro irrigation in the same field from 7 years to 7 years, Agriculture Minister MRK Paneerselvam on Tuesday, March 21, announced in the Agriculture Budget 2023-24.
The minister said during his statement before the Legislative Assembly that micro irrigation was crucial to the state's agriculture's improvement, which is why such a sizable budgetary allocation was made for it.
The agriculture minister has set aside Rs 26 crore for organic farming, Rs 20 crore for coconut farming, Rs 14 crore for alternative farming, Rs 19 crore for the year-round availability of tomatoes, and Rs 29 crore for the year-round availability of onions.
The minister said that a sum of Rs 14 crore and Rs 50 crore had been set aside for alternative farming and interest-free loans, respectively, to advance animal husbandry.
Also, the budget said that Rs 12 crore had been set aside to continue the Sustainable Cotton Farming Initiative. The state government's portion of the premium subsidy for crop insurance is allotted at Rs 2,337 crore.
The state government would set aside Rs 253 crore, according to the agricultural minister, to offer a special incentive of Rs 195 over the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of Rs 2,821 per metric tonne of cane issued by the federal government.
A new platform would collect and digitise fundamental information about farmers, like as bank accounts, Aadhar numbers for landowners and cultivators, land facts, and crop cultivation details (Grower Online Registration of Agriculture Input system). Farmers will benefit from this "One Stop Solution" as they may obtain all the information they need with just one mouse click.
On expanding the e-NAM (Electronic National Agriculture Markets, the minister said till date, 6.00-La farmers have transacted 10.00 lakh metric tonnes of produce worth aRs.1,700 crore through the platform. In the ensuing year, another 30 regulated markets will be integrated in portal at an outlay of aRs.9 crore.
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