April 24: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that the agriculture sector needs encouragement, not grants in the budget of the upcoming fiscal year. During an interaction with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development on Friday to discuss the upcoming budget as well as policies and programmes of the government, Finance Minister Sharma suggested not to use the word grant as the agriculture sector needs encouragement. 

"When making the budget for the upcoming year, don't use the word subsidy in agriculture, remove it," he said. He said that it was important to reward the farmers on the basis of productivity.

Minister Sharma gave such instructions after Prakash Sanjel, Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture, raised the issue of agricultural subsidy in the proposed program for the coming years.

The National Planning Commission has proposed a budget ceiling of Rs 42.73 billion for the Ministry of Agriculture for the upcoming fiscal year. The ministry has said that it will propose programmes within the budget limit. In the current fiscal year, only 2.5 percent of the total budget has been allocated for the agriculture sector and the average growth rate of agriculture and livestock has been 3 percent in the last ten years, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. 

During the interaction, Finance Minister Sharma complained that there was a delay in setting up quarantine at the border despite repeated instructions. 

He instructed to carry out examination of imported agricultural produce and food items and also to ensure quantity of pesticides and the condition of labeling etc. He directed to increase the production by distributing improved varieties of seeds to the farmers who are preparing to plant paddy in June-July. "Distribute seeds of high quality of paddy to the farmers immediately. We will provide some budget if needed for this," he said. “Imports should be reduced by increasing paddy production as soon as possible."