TN Agri budget presented, Rs 450 cr allocated for micro irrigation

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Agriculture minister MRK. Panneerselvam on Tuesday presented the state's agriculture budget in which Rs 450 crore allocation was made for micro irrigation.

In his speech in the Legislative Assembly, the minister said that mirco irrigation was the most important factor for the improvement of agriculture in the state and hence such a huge allocation was made for it.

The agriculture minister has allocated Rs 26 crore for organic farming, 20 crore for coconut farming, Rs 14 crore for alternative farming, Rs 19 crore for the availability of tomatoes throughout the year while a sum of Rs 29 crore to ensure the availability of onion throughout the year.

The minister said that an amount of Rs 14 crore was allocated for alternative farming and Rs 50 crore for providing interest-free loan to improve animal husbandry.

The budget also said that an amount of Rs 12 crore was allocated for continuing the Sustainable Cotton Cultivation Mission. An amount of Rs 2,337 crore is allocated as the state government's share of premium subsidy for crop insurance.

The agriculture minister said that the state government would allocate Rs 253 crore to provide special incentive of Rs 195 over and above the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of Rs 2,821 per Metric Tonne of cane announced by the Union Government.

For the basic details of the farmers like bank account, Aadhaar Number of land owners and cultivators, land details and crop cultivation details will be collected and digitised through a new portal GRAINS (Grower Online Registration of Agriculture Input system). This will be a 'One Stop Solution' for farmers as they will be able to get full details from a single click of the mouse.