To make farming a remunerative profession, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved changes to ongoing Central scheme Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) with a focus on value chain, post-harvest infrastructure and agri-entrepreneur development, among others. The scheme has been rebranded as RKVY-Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied sector Rejuvenation (RAFTAAR) to be implemented for three years till 2019-20 with a budget allocation of Rs 15,722 crore. The committee meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Under the revamped scheme, the Government said about 50 per cent of the annual outlay will be provided for setting up infrastructure and assets, 30 per cent for value-addition linked production projects and 20 per cent of the outlay will be flexi-funds for supporting any project as per the local needs. That apart, about 20 per cent of the annual outlay would be provided for implementing special sub-schemes of national priorities under RKVY-RAFTAAR. Also, 10 per cent of the annual outlay would be provided for innovation and agri-entrepreneur development through creating end-to-end solution, skill development and financial support for setting up the agri-enterprise.
"CCEA has approved the continuation of RKVY as RKVY-RAFTAAR for three years," an official statement said. The objective of the scheme is to make farming a remunerative economic activity through strengthening the farmer's effort, risk mitigation and promoting agribusiness entrepreneurship, it said. The RKVY-RAFTAAR funds would be provided in the ratio of 60:40 to the states except for north east and Himalayan States which will get 90:10 grant.
"The scheme will incentivise states in enhancing more allocation to agriculture and allied sectors. This will also strengthen farmer's efforts through creation of agriculture infrastructure that helps in supply of quality inputs, market facilities, etc," the official statement said.
This will further promote agri-entrepreneurship and support business models that maximise returns to farmers, it added.
During XI Plan and XII Plan, States have taken over 13,000 projects in agriculture and allied sector through State Agriculture Department as Nodal Implementing Agency. The interim report of RKVY evaluation done by Institute of Economic Growth summarises that the income emanating from agriculture measured as the agricultural state domestic product (AGSDP) is higher in the post-RKVY period than in the pre-RKVY period. Further, almost all the states registered higher value of output from agriculture and allied activities in the post-RKVY period. Continuation of RKVY-RAFTAAR will therefore keep the momentum of agriculture and allied sector growth.