Hinting at a farm relief package in the interim budget, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said the agriculture sector has been facing challenges, and the markets will tend to understand if the approach is rational and not populist.

"I cannot announce any decision but all I can tell you is that the farm sector, from the very data itself as it indicates, has been facing challenges, Jaitley said, while speaking in India BusinessLeader Awards (IBLA) in Mumbai.

The challenges are of a nature that our farmers have hugely increased productivity and we have moved into a surplus era, he added.

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Various media reports indicated that the government will announce major measures in the coming weeks to address farm distress across the country, a move that will come ahead of Lok Sabha elections.

"If you look at the last few months, food prices have gone down and that reflects the kind of money that the farmers get and therefore, whether it’s a situation like natural calamity or a drought or it’s a situation like a stress in a particular sector, these are all areas which cannot be considered any form of populistic expenditure," Jaitley said.

First Published:Jan 17, 2019 9:54 PM IST