Budget 2022-23 Attracts Mixed Reactions From Industrialists

In the midst of the pandemic, the finance ministry is considering a variety of solutions to help the country's growth and the general public. In the event of a downturn, the budget for 2022 will help to revive the economy while also enhancing the lives of Indian citizens.

Considering hardships due to covid-19 third waves, the Agritech sector is anticipating a lot from the Indian government this time. Experts foresee R&D incentivization, automation, farm mechanization and supporting inputs for start-ups.

What would be included in the 2022 Budget? The forthcoming budget is an opportunity for significant reform and the re-empowerment of Indian agriculture through law, subsidies, R&D incentives, and farm mechanization. This is the year 2022, and farmers anticipate that the government will make decisions that will have a direct impact on their revenue as well as contribute to the nation's economy.

In this regard, Krishi Jagran hosted an in-depth live session on "Post Budget (2022-23) Discussion" today i.e. 1st February, 2022 at 3:00 PM. This Live session focused on the Budget's key highlights, as well as its direct and indirect impact on the agriculture sector.

M C Dominic, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Krishi Jagran & Agriculture World, moderated the whole session centralized to key highlights of budget towards Agriculture sector.

Many industry experts (which included CEO, Founder, Director and managing director from renowned companies) participated in this live event, sharing their perspectives on Budget highlights and how they would affect the agriculture sector.

The first speaker from the industry was Dr. Arvind Kapur, Managing Director, ACSEN HYVEG Pvt. LTD. He said “In this budget I want to put focus on two things. One is the Natural Farming. I believe Government has a good intention. But what I feel is that the main focus should be on the basic things. If we put these kinds of thing, we must see what is in the background we are doing because natural farming needs these kinds of interventions if you really want to go for natural farming in your major areas."

"The second concept is technology, Digitization and other issues, unless we have the land holdings increase we can digitize it in here and can mark the brands. Then also we can have contract farming. So I think govt. intention is good, but I think a need to first target these basic issues behind it is necessary” he added.

The second speaker from the industry was Mr. Raju Kapoor, Director-Corporate Affairs, FMC Corporation. He said “I would like to welcome this budget because it focuses on the growth and inclusive development of farmers and also on the rural communities. Because it focuses on the technological advancements, infrastructure and access to services for better productivity and cost efficiency. So, increased access to digital and high tech services as a result here coupled with the idea of Kisan drones for crop assessments and increasing the input use efficiency in case of crop protection and crop nutrition. I think that’s a highlight I see. I also see that somewhere possibly they have run a little short in this aspect. This is a great initiative on drones. I was expecting that in the larger space of enhancing the input user efficiency. There would be some more cohesive steps taken which would look at the fertilizer formulation or the application of technologies. But I think drones I a first one. I see it taking us towards the long term database agriculture which is a great thing because it also talks about taking the digital network right down the village level. So each village will be having access to the high quality digital technology.”

The third speaker from the industry was Mr. Shubham G Dungarwal, Founder, Gfresh Agrotech. He said "The major thing is  budget was more towards the market linkage and the subsidies to the farmers. So the major move was like giving  a market linkage to marketing and digital transformation at the farm levels so that farmers can sell their produce directly to the global markets through market linkage and marketing. So it was the best mode which we have shown this time because earlier they were more focused  on the agreement books and supply in the subsidy part but now they are more focused on the supply chain management in the post service part also. So I think this is one of the best budget government is taking against the input  part because almost 40% of the produce is been wasted because  of the inefficient supply chain and this is one of the biggest challenge that government has found that it is to be solved and implemented the post harvesting market linkage guidelines for the same along with the capital is being provided from the NABARD."

The fourth speaker from the industry was Mr. Gubba Kiran, Chief Executive Officer, Gubba Cold Storage. He said ”India has many small farmers. We have to find solutions from their circumstances only. We can’t definitely aim the developed countries like America or Japan because we see farmers in a different way. We all keep telling that food wastage is happening and every town should have a cold storage. No, a ground level reality and ground level assessment should be done by the government with a body of NGO which private players and few key people in the towns and not definitely villages because will become a very big game."

"And if we look at kerala you don’t find much cold storage facilities. But if you go to UP, Bihar you will find potatoes, spices cold storage facilities. India has complete different diversifies cold storage. So a micro analysis should be done and those facilities also should be less maintenance self-power sustaining with maintenance. If vaccine is possible in India, even a cold storage in every town is possible and it shall work for the Indian farmers.” He added don’t give fish to farmers, teach them fishing” he added.