Expect greater allocation to agriculture: Aries Agro

Jimmy Mirchandani , Joint MD, Aries Agro said he expects the Budget to allocate more money for agriculture and for programmes that specifically focus on crop nutrition.

He told CNBC-TV18 that there are duty exemptions only for major fertilizers at present. There should be duty exemptions for every input so that it is more affordable for the farmer, he stated.

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview with Jimmy Mirchandani:

Q: What is the wish that you would have the FM deliver to you?

A: I would wish that there would be larger allocations to agriculture. The productivity levels in the country are very low. One of the reasons is the lack of awareness among the farmers and imbalanced nutrition, which needs to be corrected immediately. So, I would like larger allocations for programmes that specifically focus on crop nutrition.

Q: Are you looking at some sort of duty structure changes for the products that you essentially work on?

A: At the moment, there are duty exemptions for just the major fertilizers. There should be duty exemptions for practically every input which goes in so that becomes more affordable for the farmer.

There is a tremendous level of imbalance in the nutrition, as far as Indian agriculture is concerned. Making all agricultural inputs more affordable is really going to benefit the farmer.

Q: Are you suggesting a nutrient-based fertilizer duty structure?

A: At the moment, the exemptions and the entire focus is purely on nitrogen phosphorous and potassium, which everybody calls NPK, urea, DAP,s etc. But crops need much more than just NPK.

They need 16 other elements. If one wants to increase productivity, which is critical today, there should be exemptions across the board for all nutritional products that go in for agriculture.