While presenting the interim budget for 2024-2025 just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman not only focused on the agriculture sector and boosting farmers’ income but also laid emphasis on the nano range of products launched by the IFFCO.
In her speech in the Parliament, She said, “After the successful adoption of Nano Urea, application of Nano DAP on various crops will be expanded in all Agro-climatic Zones”, she said.
Soon after Sitharaman’s address, IFFCO MD Dr U S Awasthi lost no time in extending thanks to the Union Finance Minister through social media. He wrote on, ‘X’, “This is indeed very good news for Indian Agriculture and the farmers of the country. Heartfelt thanks to Hon’ble Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman ji for mentioning #NanoDAP in #Budget2024 address for expansion of its application across the country”.
In his remarks on the Interim Budget-2024, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi touched on Nano DAP and said, “Many important and big decisions have been taken for the farmers also in the budget. The use of NANO DAP, new schemes for animals, expansion of PM Matsya Sampada Yojana and self-reliant oil seed campaign will increase farmer’s income and reduce expenses”the prime minister averred.
Union Ministers Mansukhbhai Mandaviya, Parshottam Rupala and others also endorsed the statement of the Union Finance Minister on Nano DAP. They said that this will help in achieving self-sufficiency in fertilizers and greatly benefit the farmers.
In her budgetary speech, Sitharaman further said, “The efforts for value addition in the agricultural sector and boosting farmers’ income will be stepped up. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana has benefitted 38 lakh farmers and generated 10 lakh employment. Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Yojana has assisted 2.4 lakh SHGs and sixty thousand individuals with credit linkages”, she underlined.
“Other schemes are complementing the efforts for reducing postharvest losses, and improving productivity and incomes”, she added. She added, “For ensuring faster growth of the sector, our Government will further promote private and public investment in post-harvest activities including aggregation, modern storage, efficient supply chains, primary and secondary processing and marketing and branding”.
On dairy development, the Union Finance Minister said, “A comprehensive programme for supporting dairy farmers will be formulated. Efforts are already on to control foot and mouth disease. India is the world’s largest milk producer but with low productivity of milch-animals.
“The programme will be built on the success of existing schemes such Rashtriya Gokul Mission, National Livestock Mission, and Infrastructure Development Funds for dairy processing and animal husbandry”, she added.
