The rise in total allocation for rural, agriculture and allied sectors for 2017-18 by 24 percent is very encouraging and would provide a much-needed boost to the rural economy. Apart from lowering interest rates on loan for farmers, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has also announced a slew of measures aimed at incentivising farming. For instance, support to NABARD for 63,000 functional PACs over 3 years at an estimated cost of Rs 19,000 crores.
One of the most commendable initiatives is the scaling up of the allocation to the Fasal Bima Yojana to Rs 9000 crores. The coverage under this crop insurance scheme has also been hiked to cover 40 percent of the cropped area during 2017-18.
The target for agriculture credit for 2017-18 in the budget is set at Rs 10 lakh crores. Such incentives were much needed, especially to revive the rural economy that has slowed down in the aftermath of demonetisation.
The budget also gives an indication of a stronger institutional and policy framework for the implementation of technology and its tools in Indian agricultural, which is really a welcome move.
Ankur Aggarwal is the managing director of Crystal Crop Protection 
 "Ankur Aggarwal, MD, Crystal Crop Protection")
