Farmers seek cheaper credit, lower taxes, doubling PM-KISAN amount in pre-budget meet with FM
Live MintNew Delhi, Dec 7 Farmer representatives and agricultural stakeholders urged the government to provide cheaper long-term credit, implement lower taxes, and double the PM-KISAN income support during a comprehensive pre-budget consultation with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday. Primary demands included reducing interest rates on agricultural loans to as low as 1 per cent and increasing the annual PM-KISAN instalment from ₹6,000 to ₹12,000. Jakhar proposed a targeted investment strategy of ₹1,000 crore annually for eight years, focusing on specific crops like chickpeas, soybean, and mustard to enhance national agricultural productivity. He also demanded the display of agricultural machinery prices on company websites, improvement in mandi infrastructure, widening MSP coverage beyond 23 commodities, disallowing imports below MSP levels and fixing minimum export prices only in emergencies.