Andhra Pradesh to present Agriculture Budget on Friday

HYDERABAD, MARCH 13 : Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Minister P Pulla Reddy will present an exclusive Budget for Agriculture and allied sectors for the State today.

Taking a cue from Karnataka, the united Andhra Pradesh had started the practice of presenting the exclusive Budget for agriculture in 2012-13, with a view to giving a focused approach to the ailing sector. The then Government, however, had to change the nomenclature of the Budget to Agriculture Policy Paper because of some ‘technical’ reasons.

The Government of the truncated Andhra Pradesh, which submitted the main Budget on Thursday, will present the Agriculture Budget which will focus on the primary sector, dogged by several challenges.

Some of the challenges the sector face include flow of institutional credit and salinity in some of the districts. The recent Centre’s order, calling for putting a full stop to the practice of levy rice procurement from the rice millers is also a challenge the State faces.

The main Budget has allocated Rs. 4,300 crore for farm loan waiver scheme in a total budget of Rs. 1.13 lakh crore.

Source : thehindubusinessline.com