Thrust on pulses, oilseeds cultivation in T.N. Agriculture Budget 2024

T.N. Agriculture Budget 2024-25 focuses on boosting oilseeds and pulses production to enhance food security and nutrition.

The T.N. Agriculture Budget 2024-25, unveiled by Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister M.R.K. Panneerselvam on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, give a major to the production of oilseeds and pulses. Mr. Panneerselvam said that while strides had been made in paddy cultivation, there was still a shortfall in meeting the demand for pulses and oilseeds. The total allocation for schemes to expand the area under cultivation of pulses and oilseeds, is ₹108 crore.

Stating that the recent Russia-Ukraine war had brought to the fore the need for self-sustainability in food grain production, the Minister said that though Tamil Nadu required 18.45 lakh tonnes of edible oil annually, the area under oilseed cultivation was yielding only 4.85 lakh tonnes.

“The production of pulses is part of sustainable food production, which aims at food security and nutrition,” he said, announcing them implementation of a pulses development scheme in an area of 4.75 lakh acres in 2024-25.  The outlay of ₹40.27 crore for the scheme, will come from both Union and State government funds.

As the area under red gram cultivation was constantly declining and red gram was currently cultivated only on 1.25 lakh acres, the Minister said its cultivation would now be promoted on 50,000 additional acres as a sole crop, bund crop or intercrop at a cost of ₹17.50 crore allocated from the State government funds.

Mr. Panneeserlvam said to popularise the highly-remunerative oilseed crops such as groundnut, gingelly, sunflower, soybean and castor, cluster demonstrations and cultivation of oilseeds in rice-fallow conditions would be encouraged. “This scheme will be implemented in all districts of Tamil Nadu covering an area of 2.5 lakh acres at an outlay of ₹45 crore, with funds from the Union and State governments,” he said. 

To increase the area under cultivation and productivity of gingelly in districts declared as under the ‘Oilseed Zone’, ₹3crore would be earmarked to provide subsidies for inputs and harvesting charges for 25,000 acres. Additionally, ₹2 crore would be allocated to increase the sunflower cultivated area to 12,500 acres, and the cultivation of high-yielding castor hybrids would be promoted in an area of 1,500 acres at an outlay of ₹18 lakh.

Reiterating the need to enhance the productivity of food grains, coconut, sugarcane, cotton, and sunflower, to fulfill the vision of the Chief Minister to make Tamil Nadu one of the top three States in terms of productivity, Mr. Panneerselvam announced a ₹48 crore scheme to incentivise Enhanced Crop Productivity. “Crop productivity is projected to increase by 15 per cent through the use of quality seeds, which are essential to achieve higher yields,” he said, and announced the distribution of 12,510 tonnes of paddy seeds, 260 tonnes of millet seeds, 940 tonnes of pulse seeds and 2,100 tonnes of oilseeds to farmers at a subsidy of 50-60 per cent.