Expenditure in research and education in Agriculture sectors have increased by more than 26 % in the past seven years — from Rs. 5,393 crore to Rs. 6,800 crore stated the Economic Survey 2017-18, tabled in the Parliament by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley here on Monday.

The actual expenditure of Department of Agricultural Research and Education/Indian Council of Agricultural Research has increased from Rs.5393 crore in 2010-11 to Rs.6800 (Budget estimate) crore during 2017-18, the survey said. “The compound annual growth rate of expenditure has been 4.2% over the years and in recent years’ expenditure has been on the higher side,” it said.

During the year 2017-18 investment in Agriculture Research and Education protected new Agricultural innovation by filling 45 patent applications at Indian Patent Office (IPO) and the cumulative patent applications have now risen to 1,025.  So far 10 copyright and 12 trademark applications were filed by ICAR for products and processes, it said.

Agricultural R&D is the main source of innovation, which is needed to sustain agricultural productivity growth in the long-term. After the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Right Authority notified new genera, applications for 135 varieties were filed at the Registry and 155 high-yielding varieties/hybrids of cereals were released for cultivation in different agro-ecologies of the country during 2016, the Economic Survey stated.

Economic Survey says that total 209 new Varieties/hybrids tolerant to various biotic and abiotic stresses with enhanced quality have been developed for Cereals, Pulses, Oilseeds, commercial and Forage Crops.

For giving financial assistance to the agriculture sector, Rs.20,339 crore has also been approved by the Government in 2017-18 to meet various obligations arising from interest subvention being provided to the farmers on short-term crop loans, as also loans on post-harvest storages meets an important input requirement of the farmers in the country, the Economic Survey said.

The Survey further adds that this institutional credit will help in delinking the farmers from non-institutional sources of credit, where they are compelled to borrow at usurious rates of interest. Since the crop insurance under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is linked to availing of crop loans, the farmers would stand to benefit from both farmer oriented initiatives of the Government, by accessing the crop loans.

Ends.