CHENNAI: Farmers have had huge expectations from the agriculture budgets during the DMK and AIADMK regimes, with many remaining unfulfilled since. During the course of time new issues have cropped up due to changing scenarios. Now, they are pinning hopes on the TVK government’s first agriculture budget, which is also the revised budget for the year 2026-27.
Their expectations range from hiking the procurement prices of paddy and sugarcane and a complete waiver of crop loans without discriminating among small and big farmers, more arrangements for marketing of agricultural produce, addressing depleting groundwater levels and ways to augment them by building check dams every 30 km if every 10 km is not possible in the present situation, proper maintenance of dams and diverting the surplus water during floods to them.
Providing quality seeds to farmers, setting up separate universities for agriculture and horticulture in the delta region and in Krishnagiri respectively, introducing agriculture as one of the basic subjects in the school curriculum, better encouragement for millets and rainfed crops are among their bunch of demands to ensure food safety and livelihood of farmers.
At the pre-budget meeting held last week, a farmer recalled that during the tenure of former CM J Jayalalithaa, rainwater harvesting was given the highest importance and approval for construction of houses was strictly given only if the plan for that house had a rainwater harvesting structure. A similar approach is the need of the hour to recharge the groundwater table, he had suggested.
Stating that paddy and sugarcane have minimum support price but the vegetables and fruits don’t have that, another farmer said as a long-term project, the state government should implement a smartcard system to ensure the proper reach of all grants given to the farmers.
Another farmer underscored the importance of timely desilting of waterways which carry water for irrigation till the tail-end areas.
Three farmers urged the state government to utilise the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds of corporate companies for building godowns for storing the paddy procured from the farmers.