MUMBAI, 05 February 2018 : CLFMA of India, the apex association representing the animal protein sector in India commends the government’s initiative to set up infrastructure funds for agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries.
B Soundararajan, Chairman of CLFMA, hails this budget a forward-looking and progressive one particularly in terms of focusing on much-needed investments to create basic supply chain infrastructure and financial access for agriculture and allied industries.
“These are important steps forward in taking the animal-agribusiness industry of India to the next level to be a global player. The infrastructure funds will definitely be boosters to support the goal of doubling the farmers income by 2022 and will help enhance the country’s processing capacity and significantly cut down wastages” Soundararajan added.
There are plenty of opportunities to increase farmers’ net income and cutting wastage pre and post farm are the most obvious and promising means to do so.
He opined that there are several positive aspects in terms of financial inclusiveness and making credit to the farmers easily available through Kisan Credit Cards in this budget.
“All these are going to help the industry-farmer-lender equation much more predictable and positive”, he added.
“The country urgently needs greater investment in processing, storage and marketing of raw output from the farmers – crops, milk and meat. It will also help them realise better profit margins by keeping their produce till the prices become remunerative. The food processing industry is also going to benefit as the quality and safety issues of raw food will be enhanced," he opined.
"Ultimately entire food value chain is getting benefitted. Livestock industry plays a very significant role in providing livelihood for a few hundred million people in the country particularly the recent rise of aquaculture industry in India has been phenomenal. It is going to be one of the most promising exports sectors in the near future and is expected to cross US$7 billion by 2022,” Soundararajan stressed.
Pointing an issue of sudden surge in the prices of soymeal to the government, Soundararajan said that The feed industry which caters to the needs of the farmers who wish to raise their productivity and incomes is significantly getting affected by the sudden increase in prices of soymeal by more than 50% in the last few weeks. This needs to be addressed appropriately and there were similar issue of sudden price surge in the pulses sector last year. We have requested the government for introducing stock limits to rein in on the unscrupulous players distorting the prices artificially by hoarding. We hope the government will give due consideration for our request and help the sector.
