Govt raises farm credit target to `20 lakh crore for FY24

New Delhi: The government on Wednesday announced an 11 per cent hike in agriculture credit target to Rs 20 lakh crore for the next fiscal with focus on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries, a move aimed at providing higher farm loans at a subsidised rates to the farming community. Among other big ticket announcements for agriculture and allied sector, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman - in her budget speech - said the government will launch a new sub-scheme of Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana with an investment of Rs 6,000 crore to improve value chain efficiencies and expand the fishery market.

Customs duty on key inputs for domestic manufacturing of shrimp feed will also be reduced to promote export of marine products, she said.

For adoption of natural farming, the FM said the government will facilitate 1 crore farmers for this purpose and will also set up 10,000 Bio-Input Resource Centres for creating a national-level distributed micro-fertilizer and pesticide manufacturing network.