Govt Allocates Rs 6,400 Cr for Farm Mechanization

New Delhi, Feb 23 (PTI) The government has allocated nearly Rs 6,500 crore for mechanisation in the farm sector since 2014-15 as part of efforts to reduce input cost and boost farmers' income, a senior official said.

The Centre has also provided more than 15 lakh machines and equipment to farmers on subsidy.

"During the period from 2014-15 to December 2023, an amount of Rs 6,405.55 crore have been allocated for agricultural mechanisation. A total of 15,23,650 machines and equipment have been provided to farmers on subsidy," the official said.

That apart, 23,018 custom hiring centres, 475 high-tech hubs and 20,461 farm machinery banks have been established to make available agricultural machines and equipment to farmers on a rental basis.

The government is also promoting drone technology in the agriculture sector in a big way, the official said.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) have been released on how to use drones in agriculture.

"In order to make this technology affordable to farmers and other stakeholders of this sector, financial assistance at 100 per cent cost of drone, along with the contingent expenditure, is provided for its demonstration on the farmers' fields.

"So far, an amount of Rs 141.41 crore has been released towards Kisan drone promotion," the official said.

Moreover, the government has recently approved a central sector scheme for providing drones to the Women Self Help Group (SHGs) for the period from 2024-25 to 2025-26 with an outlay of Rs 1,261 crore.

The scheme aims to provide drones to 14,500 selected women SHGs for providing rental services to farmers for agriculture purposes (application of fertilisers and pesticides).

Under this scheme, central financial assistance at 80 per cent of the cost of drone and accessories/ancillary charges up to a maximum of Rs 8 lakh will be provided to the women SHGs for purchase of drones, the official said.

In order to mobilise a medium-long-term debt financing facility for investment in agri infrastructure, Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) of Rs 1 lakh crore was launched in 2020.

All loans under this financing facility have an interest subvention of 3 per cent per annum up to a limit of Rs 2 crore.

"So far, Rs 37,099 crore has been sanctioned for 51,694 projects under AIF, out of this total sanctioned amount of Rs 27,782 crore are covered under scheme benefits. These sanctioned projects have mobilised an investment of Rs 62,653 crore in agriculture sector," the official said.

In the last 10 years, the official said the government has focused a lot on improving soil health to boost crop productivity.

The government is implementing Soil Health Management & Soil Health Card Schemes under the National Project on Soil Health & Fertility of National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture since the year 2014-15.

Soil health card provides information to farmers on nutrient status of their soil, along with recommendations on appropriate dosage of nutrients to be applied for improving soil health and its productivity.

The official said the number of cards issued to farmers was 10.74 crore in cycle-I (2015 to 2017) and 12.19 crore in cycle-II (2017 to 2019).