Bhubaneswar: Finance minister Pradip Kumar Amat proposed an allocation of Rs 10,903.62 crore to agriculture sector while presenting a separate Agriculture budget for 2015-16 in Odisha Assembly today. This is the third time when Odisha is having a separate budget for agriculture.
Amid initial sloganeering from Opposition members in the House, the Finance minister carried out his budget speech and declared a corpus fund of Rs 100 crore for fertilizers sector.
With an aim to increase potato production in the State, Amat proposed an allocation of Rs 50 crore for State Potato Mission. A similar amount was also proposed in the budget for preservation of the tuber.
In his speech, Amat said the budget is prepared on the basis of the government estimate that food grain production is likely to be at 120 lakh metric tonne during the year.
The Finance minister proposed an allocation of RS 160 crore for deep borewell irrigation projects. A provision of Rs 160 crore has also been made for Jal Nidhi Yojana in the State.
While Rs 90 crore was proposed for Biju Krushak Kalyan Yojana with an aim to benefit farmers of the State, Rs 128 crore was allocated to Udyan Krushi Yojana for development of horticulture sector.
In the Agriculture budget, a provision of Rs 579.54 crore was made for the projects to control floods.
Amat also proposed Rs 55 crore for development of river and canal bank roads in the budget.