Ministry of Agriculture Demand Rs 9 Arba Additional Budget
May 24, 2020 | Investopaper
The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has demanded additional budget from the Ministry of Finance for the coming Fiscal Year 2077/78. The Ministry of Finance has asked the Ministry of Agriculture to prepare the entire program within it in a budget limit of Rs 33 billion.
The Ministry of Agriculture has asked for an additional Rs. 9.05 billion under various headings. It has demanded an allocation of Rs 1.5 billion to set up a micro agri-enterprise fund at the local level. The Ministry of Agriculture has stated that a micro agri-enterprise fund will be set up for the youths in the country or returning from abroad who want to work in agriculture and run small enterprises in coordination with the central, state and local levels at each local level.
Loans of up to Rs. 50,000 / – will be provided to the youths who want to start agribusiness from such funds through cooperatives. The Ministry of Agriculture has stated that Rs 1.5 billion will be required for a 40 percent partnership of the federal ministry to provide such loans to 90,000 youths across the country.
The Ministry of Agriculture has demanded Rs 3 billion for providing agricultural loans of less than Rs 500,000 at 3 percent, loans of Rs 1 million to 50 million at 5 percent interest rate and to provide subsidy of 5 percent of the base interest for loans above Rs 50 million. A specialized bank has to be appointed for the flow of credit in the agricultural sector. Currently, the work can be done through the Agriculture Development Bank.
Most of the agricultural production programs are within the scope of work at the local level. The local level is also the main source of mobilization of social, economic and natural resources for agricultural production. For this, an additional budget of Rs 2.5 billion is required for the purpose of salary allowance and recruitment for 5,940 manpower service contracts, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
