Amid the ongoing farm crisis with protests against the farm laws continuing for months, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget 2021 speech that the government is increasing the agriculture credit target to Rs 16.5 lakh crore.
“Our government is committed to the welfare of farmers. The MSP regime has undergone a change to assure price that is at least 1.5 times the cost of production across all commodities,” said Sitharaman, in an assurance to the farm sector.
Sitharaman further added in her Budget speech, “Procurement has also continued to increase at a steady pace. This has resulted in increase in payment to farmers substantially. In case of wheat, the total payment made to farmers in 2013-14 was Rs Rs 33,874 crore. In 2019-20 it was Rs 62,802 crore and in 2020-21, it was Rs 75,060 crore.”
“Cotton farmers saw stupendous increase in the amount that was paid to them in 2013-14, that was Rs 90 crore and it was increased to over Rs 25,000 crore in 2020-21,” said Sitharaman.
Nirmala Sitharaman said a total of 43.36 lakh farmers have benefited from these payments.
In Budget 2021, Sitharaman also proposed to increase agriculture credit target to Rs 16.5 lakh crore.
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