Agriculture outlay hiked by 14.27 percent in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: Giving a fillip to agriculture sector in Odisha, the state government has increased the outlay for agriculture in the annual budget for 2015-16.

In his budget statement, Pradip Kumar Amat, Finance Minister of Government of Odisha said the expenditure for agriculture was raised to Rs10,903.62 crore in 2015-16 compared to Rs 9542.22 crore in 2014-15, showing 14.27 per cent increase, adding that it showed the priority given to farm and allied sectors by the government.

Out of which Rs. 3124 crore earmarked for agriculture department, Rs. 624 crore for fisheries and animal resources, Rs. 892 crore for cooperation department and Rs.6212 for water resources department.

“We propose to address critical gaps in availability of inputs like irrigation, seeds, fertilisers and pesticides. We also propose to address the issues pertaining to post- harvest operations such as threshing, storage, warehousing and assuring remunerative price to the producers,” Amat said.