Presenting the the agriculture budget for 2022-23, state Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister MRK Paneerselvam on Saturday said the government has allocated Rs 33,007.68 crore to the Agriculture department for the year 2022-23.
This is the first full-fledged State agricultural budget since the DMK government headed by Chief Minister MK Stalin assumed office in May last year.
Apart from this, “Sustainable Cotton Cultivation Mission” will be implemented at a budget of Rs.15.32 crore with Union and State Government fund, in order to enhance the Cotton yield during the year 2022-23 and special measures are being taken to increase soybean cultivation in Tanjore, Salem, Tiruvallur, Nellai and Villupuram districts of the state.
The Tamil Nadu government will also allocate Rs 5 crore as additional 20 per cent of subsidy to SC/ST farmers, Paneerselvam said. The Tamil Nadu government will provide free electricity to all farmers across the state and has allocated Rs 5,157.56 crore for the same.
The Minister also promised that steps to reduce the negative impact of global warming on agriculture was being taken by the government.
Presenting the second separate farm budget, Agriculture Minister MRK Panneerselvam announced a series of tech-driven measures that would help improve yield, and reduce manpower and time taken.
“The new digital technology ‘Internet of Things’ will be adopted in State seed and horticultural farms for automated irrigation and fertigation. Farmers will be offered training on this new technology,” he said.
The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) and Tamil Nadu Drone Corporation would train farmers through seven Farmers Training Centres (FTC) on using drones to spraying pesticides and surveying crop growth stages.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) would be used to monitor pest and disease infestation and farmers would be informed about management measures through SMS in coordination with the Tamil Nadu e-Governance agency and TNAU.
Remote sensing technology would be used to assess cropped area and yield to enable the agricultural marketing intelligence cell to forecast the price, which in turn would ensure that the farmers received fair price for their produce.
An exclusive portal, ‘Tamil Mann Valam’, would be launched in coordination with TNAU through which farmers can find out the fertility status of their lands as per their survey number.
They would also be able to print soil health cards on their own, Panneerselvam added.
Farmers would be given 50% subsidy for mobile phone-based automatic pumpset controllers so that the farmers would not have to visit farms during the night that not only entails hardship but also puts them at risk of snakebite and other injuries.
The budget session is likely to go on until March 24.
Earlier Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan Friday said that for the first time since 2014, the state’s revenue deficit will fall by over Rs 7,000 crore in 2022-2023 and that the fiscal deficit will decline from 4.61 per cent to 3.80 per cent.
He said the revenue growth that the state witnessed during the value added tax (VAT) regime had not been achieved since the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act.
DMK finance Minister Thiagarajan proposed monthly direct cash transfer of Rs 1,000 for every girl student pursuing higher education.
