Union Budget 2024-25 has announced several measures for the agriculture sector including thrust on research, promotion of natural farming and national cooperation policy.

As part of measures to enhance productivity and resilience in agriculture sector, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced measures like Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI),  ‘atmanirbharta’ for oil seeds, large scale clusters for vegetable production and financial support for network of Nucleus Breeding Centres for Shrimp Broodstocks.

The Union Budget has also made a provision of Rs 1.52 lakh crore for agriculture and allied sector.

Government has announced the DPI in agriculture for coverage of farmers and their lands in 3 years.

Digital crop survey for Kharif using the DPI will be taken up in 400 districts, the Finance Minister said.

A National Cooperation Policy for systematic, orderly and all-round development of the cooperative sector has also been announced.

The Finance Minister said that fast-tracking growth of rural economy and generation of employment opportunities on a large scale will be the policy goal.

She said the details of six crore farmers and their lands will be brought into the farmer and land registries. The issuance of Jan Samarth based Kisan Credit Cards will be enabled in 5 states.

She further highlighted a strategy being put in place to achieve ‘atmanirbharta’ for oil seeds such as mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean, and sunflower, as announced in the interim Budget.

Government will also promote Farmer-Producer Organizations, cooperatives and start-ups for vegetable supply chains, including for collection, storage, and marketing.

Financial support for setting up a network of Nucleus Breeding Centres for Shrimp Broodstocks will be provided. Sitharaman said financing for shrimp farming, processing and export will be facilitated through NABARD.

The Finance Minister also announced that in the next two years, one crore farmers across the country will be initiated into natural farming supported by certification and branding. She said implementation will be through scientific institutions and willing gram panchayats and 10,000 need-based bio-input resource centres will be established for the purpose.

Another major announcement was in the land reforms. The Finance Minister said land-related reforms and actions, both in rural and urban areas, will be incentivized for completion within the next 3 years through appropriate fiscal support.

The reforms will cover land administration, planning and management, urban planning, usage and building bylaws.

She elaborated that rural land related actions will include assignment of Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) or Bhu-Aadhaar for all lands, digitization of cadastral maps, survey of map sub-divisions as per current ownership, establishment of land registry and linking to the farmers registry.

Regarding urban land related actions, the Finance Minister said that land records in urban areas will be digitized with GIS mapping. An IT based system for property record administration, updating, and tax administration will be established. These will also facilitate improving the financial position of urban local bodies, she added.