The Government of India has allocated more share of the budget component this fiscal to boost farming activities in Jammu and Kashmir, which will benefit around 7.50 lakh farmers associated with the sector.
According to the budget 2021-22, around 25000 farmers shall be benefitted by covering 87750 hectare of land and also facilitating them with basic farming infrastructure.
The government would facilitate 2500 pump sets, 750 bore wells and construction of many field channels with a provision of Rs.91.27 crore, as per the budget.
Rs 65.81 crore will be provided for farm machinery to 30000 farmers.
Similarly, 25000 farmers shall be benefitted by establishment of two mandis with a provision of Rs 1 crore and 35000 farmers shall be trained for capacity building with a provision of Rs 26 crore.
The government will also extend all possible support for skill development and employment generation opportunities for rural youth in horticulture and post-harvest management.
In 2021-22, Rs 74.55 crore has been provisioned as additional subsidy/support for establishing C.A. Stores with a target to achieve 4 lakh metric tonnes capacity in next three years.
According to the budget 2021-22, an amount of Rs 2.50 crore has been proposed to help farmers and strengthen them.
With the assured irrigation facility, the production of the saffron crop is expected to increase further.
Also, Rs 0.75 crore has been projected to augment the mulberry wealth under the proposed coverage of 700 hectares.
As per the budget, Rs.7.25 crore is being provisioned in the next fiscal, for development and production/distribution of quality silkworm seed along with the infrastructure support.
The export target for dry and fresh fruit for 2021-22 is expected to be 22.30 LMT (22 LMIT for fresh fruit and 0.30 LMT for dry fruit).
In the budget, an allocation of about Rs. 2008 crore has been made for the horticulture and agriculture sectors in the union territory.
According to the budget, the government is making every effort to double the income of farmers by 2022 and special attention is being paid to both traditional agriculture and horticulture sectors.
In collaboration with NAFED, Rs.1,700 crore will be invested to boost the production of apples, walnuts, cherries, exotic vegetable and other horticulture products over the next five years. While three cold storage clusters will be setup at Kathua, North Kashmir and South Kashmir with an investment of Rs.500 crore.
The government has set a goal to achieve high-density plantation of horticulture crops on about 5500 hectares of land which will increase the income of farmers by four times.
