The crop sector has been getting the lion’s share of states’ spending, but a Moneycontrol analysis shows that the share of crop cultivation in agricultural output has declined over the last decade.
Farmers have been protesting at the outskirts of Delhi to get the government to agree on minimum support price for all crops, debt relief and pensions.
In 2021, farmers had protested the passage of three farm laws by the government, demanding a roll back, which the government ultimately relented to.
In 2022-23, states decided to spend over half of their budget on agriculture and allied activities on crop cultivation.
This was a dramatic increased from 2016-17, when states had spent around 40 percent on crop cultivation, while they had spent just a third of funds for agriculture on crops in 2013-14.
The government had budgeted Rs 1.26 lakh crore on crop cultivation in 2022-23, an increase from Rs 27,550 crore in 2013-14.
In terms of capex, the spending had gone up to 18 percent in 2022-23 from 12 percent a decade ago.
The government had budgeted Rs 4,522 crore for capital spending in crop sector. Capex on crops has risen 400 percent over the last decade.
The relative rise in output, commensurate to higher spending, has been missing.
Despite a rise in share of capex and revenue spending, output from crops has been declining.
The ratio of crops' contribution to agriculture output was 54 percent in 2022-23 compared with 64.5 percent a decade ago and 65.4 percent in 2011-12.
Of the Rs 22.7 lakh crore contributed by agriculture, forestry and fishing in Rs 12.3 lakh crore was contributed by crop output.
While crop share has declined, livestock and fishing and aquaculture have come to occupy the space.
The share of livestock rose to 30.4 percent in 2022-23 from 21.8 percent in 2011-12, while fishing’s share has increased from 4.5 percent to 7.3 percent during this period.
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