Subsidy on seeds raised to Rs 288 crore

The government today announced increasing subsidy on seeds of different crops to Rs 288 crore to mitigate the impact of drought and hoped kharif losses would be made up to some extent, especially now that rainfall had improved.

“We have decided to distribute good quality seeds in time to farmers and have stepped up subsidy to the extent of Rs 288 crore so that farmers get subsidy directly, which will get reflected in the pricing of seeds,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters after the first meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on drought.

Mukherjee noted that rainfall deficiency had reduced to 26 per cent from 36-37 per cent earlier. “The recent rain has improved the situation to some extent, though there still is deficiency. Earlier, it was thought that deficit would be to the extent of 36-37 per cent, but now, with the recent rains, it has come down to 26 per cent.

As many as 246 of the 600-plus districts in the country have been declared drought-affected.

“The timely measures, which we have taken to protect the standing kharif crops in some states, have yielded results. But what would be final outcome could be assessed after the harvest,” Mukherjee said.

Besides Mukherjee, other members of EGoM —Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, Rural Development Minister C P Joshi, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia — also attended the meeting.

When contacted Agriculture Commissioner N B Singh said the subsidy on prices of pulse seeds would be raised to Rs 2,000 per quintal from Rs 1,300 at present.

Similarly, some subsidy would be offered on wheat seeds, Singh added, without elaborating on the details about those of other crops.

The Centre has over 1.5 million tonnes of surplus seeds.