The Navnirman Krushak Sangathan (NKS) on Sunday sharply criticised the State Budget, saying the separate Agriculture Budget has never helped the farmers as claimed by the Government.
NKS State coordinator Shesadev Nanda said that while the Chhattisgarh Government has provided special bonus and rebates to farmers for State’s agricultural development, Odisha has not taken any concrete step.
He said though agriculture played a major role in strengthening State’s rural economy and is the main source of providing employment to rural households, the State Government allocating more funds for irrigation development claiming that the Government has increased budgetary provision for agriculture and farmer’s empowerment is a vague claim.
“If the State Government is really interested for farmers empowerment then why they reduced incentives under KALIA scheme from Rs 10,000 to Rs 6,000,” Nanda questioned.
He added that the State Government has not taken any initiatives to strengthen Mandi structure, providing cold storage for farmers, increasing irrigation cover, and installing food processing plants.