Jaipur, May 15, 2020.

“As equal stakeholders in the economic growth of the nation, we support the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat by Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today’s tranche of announcements by Hon’ble Finance Minister, included fiscal measures attuned to INR 15,000 crore for Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund which is to be set up to support investment in dairy processing, value addition and cattle feed infrastructure.

While we believe the measure will benefit the livestock industry in the long run but the industry required an immediate life support. Currently the small farmers are in deep debt trap owing to severe liquidity crunch and his livelihood is at stake. The poultry sector is making a loss attuned to INR 26,000 crores in the course of last three months, owing to misinformation about COVID 19 spreading from the consumption of chicken and a nationwide supply chain and logistics logjam.

Most of the livestock farmers of poultry sector are not being able to sell ready birds and pay back for the feed they purchased on credit, the farm owner or the moneylenders. Being the backbone of the society, farmers currently do not have the capital to restart their business. There is a huge proportion of landless farmers who work on rented farms and the measures currently announced by the Government do not give them the financial stimulus to ensure the food and nutritional security of the country. For instance these landless farmers who operates on leased land are not entitled for loans , subsidy or Kisan credit card by banks .

The measures announced under Matsya Sampada Yojna  for Fisheries and Shrimp sector to boost export and Rural Employment are encouraging . We are optimistic that these measures will boost rural entrepreneurship,  wealth creation to boost economy to make India self-reliant as envisioned by PM .

Overall we will get more clear picture when final document is available for us to study implementation of said policy which holds the key to success of these measures. Hope some of the gaps mentioned above  will be taken into account including some immediate relief to farmers in financial distress due to massive loss. We believe all segments of the agro-economy are inter-reliant and vital links in the process of country’s overall economic development and we as partners in this journey can grow if rural economy gets boosted in line with GDP .”