The Karnataka Budget didn’t seem to have anything for Natural Farming / Sustainable farming or reduction of chemicals, Promotion of Native of seeds etc. Hence starting this thread to Discuss incase if there were details of this mentioned and Media hasn’t picked it up.
If the Budget doesnt have anything for these, then should’nt this cause any concern in the Farming community, Civil society etc.
Some of the highlights from the Karnataka Budget related to supporting/encouraging Sustainable Agriculture
1.In order to preserve locally bred seeds on the verge of extinction, a Community Seed Bank will be established.
2.A new programme called Namma Millet will be started. Under this programme, processed millets and value-added millets will be made available at affordable prices. The scheme will be implemented with the support of agri-tech companies and retail chains
3.To promote sustainable agriculture in drought-affected and rainfed areas of the State and for soil and water conservation, 5,000 water bodies will be created over a period of five years
4.Traditional agricultural practices have undergone significant changes in this age of agricultural innovation. A database will be prepared to forecast crop productivity using modern technologies like satellite pictures, sensors, and machine learning algorithm.
Attached below is the pdf from the Budget Speech 2024-25 (Agriculture Highlights) presented by Hon Chief Minister of Karnataka
Yes, Vikas. Karnataka’s budget only makes symbolic gestures for sustainable agriculture. The emphasis on PPP for processing etc indicate that no serious attention is paid to addressing the ecological degradation, the need for supporting local and organic seeds, or for promoting decentralised agricultural production and processing. Overall a disappointing budget. Analyses by KP Suresh and Shivasundar have highligted the overall inadequacy.