(FE)
In Union Budget 2018, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the government had always been keen to enhance their commitment to the welfare of farmers, and achieving the goal of doubling farmer income by the year 2022, by the 75th year of Indian Independence. The Finance Minister observed that the policy in the previous decade remained production centric. The Finance minister announced various measures to generate higher income, produce more from same land, and realise higher price, and measures centered around farm and non-farm income. Most notably, Arun Jaitley said that he wants farmers to earn 1.5 times the cost of their produce. “Government considers agriculture as an enterprise,” Arun Jaitley said.
Finance Minister also said that MSP for kharif crops will be at at 1.5 times cost of produce. “Goverment will work with NITI aayog to develop system of optimum farm, price realisation 470 APMCS have been connected to eNAM,” he said. Further, he announced starting up with an agricultural market fund with corpus of Rs 2,200 crore.
