Increased Government Support Under PM-KISAN And Tax Breaks For Agri-Tech Firms Are Needed in 2023: Industry.

Increased Government Support Under PM-KISAN And Tax Breaks For Agri-Tech Firms Are Needed: Industry.

An Indian Central Sector Program called Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) supports the income of landholding farmers’ families. With the help of this programme, farmers can purchase a variety of inputs for their domestic requirements, linked activities, and agricultural needs.

According to Ajay Jhunjhunwala, president of the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), the objective should be accomplished in the coming five years with an annual budget of Rs 25,000 crore to significantly reduce our dependence on imported edible oils from its current level of 65% to 30-40% of consumption.

Industry experts believe that the government should increase the cash assistance provided to farmers under the PM-KISAN Scheme from the current Rs 6,000 per year to purchase crop inputs, offer tax incentives to agri-tech startups, and reduce import duties on agrochemicals in this year’s Budget.

Supporting agri-tech businesses in India is intended to strengthen the agriculture industry, assist small farmers, and promote best practices by increasing public awareness. According to the report, which cited a government official, the central government will concentrate on developing regulations to encourage the construction of facilities like micro cold storage to address supply chain challenges such as infrastructure for storage, transportation, and the issue of wastage.

For the Indian agriculture sector to adopt technology like artificial intelligence, precision farming, and drones more quickly, it is also necessary to offer incentives to farmers and agri-tech businesses. According to the research, funding agri-tech firms in India aims to strengthen the agriculture industry, empower small farmers, and promote best practices by increasing awareness and utilising cutting-edge farming technology.

PM-Kisan gives all landholding farmer households with productive land income support. The Government of India provides all financing for this programme. It attempts to augment farmers’ financial need for purchasing agricultural supplies to ensure proper crop health and suitable output.

Initially, when the PM-Kisan Scheme was first introduced on February 24, 2019, only SMF households with a total landholding of up to 2 hectares were eligible for its advantages. The Scheme was later updated starting on June 1, 2019, and it was made available to all farmer families, regardless of the size of their landholdings.

A national mission should be started to enhance the production of oilseeds and decrease the importation of cooking oils, according to the edible oil industry’s trade association, SEA. To increase the production of oilseeds, it is urgently necessary to create the “National Mission on Edible Oils” with sufficient financial backing, as stated by Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) President Ajay Jhunjhunwala.

Currently, India imports roughly 140 lakh tonnes of edible oils per year. To significantly reduce our reliance on imported edible oils from their current level of 65 per cent of consumption to 30-40 per cent by 2026, the mission needs to be carried out with an annual investment of Rs 25,000 crore, he said.

According to R G Agarwal, chairman of agrochemical company Dhanuka Group, farmers should receive more money under the PM-KISAN programme so they may purchase a fair number of crop inputs, including seeds, fertiliser, and pesticides. Following the PM-KISAN, the Center makes three equal yearly payments of Rs 6,000. The programme debuted in February 2019 and became effective in December 2018.

Agarwal also called for specific financial incentives to support R&D initiatives and extension services in the agricultural industry. According to K C Ravi, Chief Sustainability Officer at Syngenta India, the cost of inputs in the agricultural sector has increased. He continued, “A higher expenditure for PM-KISAN will guarantee farmers have more money to purchase information.

To buy drones, the government should put aside some money from the Rs 1 lakh crore Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, according to Deepak Bhardwaj, co-founder and director of the agri-drone manufacturer IoTechWorld Avigation. IoTechWorld co-founder Anoop Upadhyay stated that farmers should be able to purchase the drones that were given subsidies and that the manufacturers should be paid back for their costs.

Co-Founder and MD of the startup WayCool Foods, Karthik Jayaraman, said the federal and state governments offer a variety of programmes and subsidies, but getting access to them is difficult for businesses. According to him, access to these through a single window site will let enterprises benefit from programmes more effectively and carry out their intended goals.

According to Shekar Sivasubramanian, CEO of the Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence, a continuous emphasis on developing sustainable AI capacities to support the widespread use of AI solutions in the agricultural industry will go a long way.

According to Navneet Ravikar, Chairman and Managing Director of Leads Connect Services, private research companies engaged in agriculture should also be eligible for grants and subsidies under various drone-related programmes. He added that the government should give authorised food testing labs a 50% subsidy for essaying, testing, and certification on agricultural items and milk products.

Aneesh Jain, the creator of Gram Unnati, has said that farmers need to switch to new crops and invest in new technology to boost their productivity and income.
“Some incentives or plans for organising protests will go a long way toward encouraging farmers to adopt new crops and technologies.

To enable sufficient production at one location, he said these demonstrations should be held in concentrated clusters at the village or gramme panchayat level. Otherwise, market linkages may prove difficult. Maninder Singh, the founder and CEO of CEF Group, which deals in biofuel and organic fertilisers, suggested that the government provide subsidies for organic manures to encourage farmers to use them.

Ankit Alok Bagaria, the co-founder of the biotech business Loopworm, predicted that scale-up grants would be made available in the Budget 2023 regardless of whether any startups had previously received smaller grants. Additionally, he stated that the BudgetBudget should support precision farming and novel agricultural practices like algae and insect farming with special funding or incentives.

Edited by Prakriti Arora