The budget 2026-27 allocated funds to allied farm sectors such as high-value crops, livestock, and fisheries to promote crop diversification and improve farm incomes. Yet, these were paltry outlays. There was little for farmers battling a crash in crop prices and incomes, and funds for agri research were slashed amid growing climate risks and a productive crisis.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a new ₹350-crore scheme to promote high-value plantation crops, including coconut, cocoa, cashew and tree nuts. The budget also proposed a ₹150 crore Bharat Vistaar scheme, which will use a multilingual artificial intelligence (AI) tool for crop advisories.
“To diversify farm outputs, increase productivity, enhance farmers’ incomes, and create new employment opportunities, we will support high-value crops such as coconut, sandalwood, cocoa and cashew in our coastal areas,” the finance minister said in her budget speech. She added that a dedicated scheme for cashew and cocoa will make India self-reliant, enhance export competitiveness and transform Indian products into premium global brands by 2030.
On Bharat Vistaar, she said the AI tool will integrate the AgriStack portals (which store farm-level data on land holdings and crops planted) and the package on agricultural practices developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research with AI systems. This will enhance farm productivity and reduce risk by providing customized advice to farmers.
The budget also proposed developing 500 reservoirs as Amrit Sarovars and strengthening the fisheries value chain in coastal areas. Sitharaman also promised to create job opportunities in rural and peri-urban areas through a credit-linked subsidy scheme, modernization of livestock enterprises and creation of farmer-producer organizations.
The announcements, which go beyond the traditional crop sector, signal recognition of allied farm occupations and their growing share of agri-GDP. However, these proposals may not be enough for farmers. Food prices have been sliding over the past few months.
Most crops, such as cereals, pulses and oilseeds, are selling in the wholesale market at a discount to the government-announced minimum support prices. Agricultural activity in April-September of 2026 was supported by a favourable monsoon, but growth is expected to remain below the long-term average of 4.5%, the Economic Survey said.
A reading of the budget papers shows that crucial schemes, including those on price support, insurance, and interest subsidies on crop loans, did not receive any funding boost. The price-support scheme, which aims to provide remunerative prices to farmers and reduce volatility, was allocated ₹7,200 crore for 2026-27, marginally higher than ₹6,941 crore in 2025-26 (budget estimate). The funds for crop insurance and interest subsidies on short-term crop loans were unchanged at ₹12,200 crore and ₹22,600 crore, respectively.
Even as Indian agriculture faces a productivity crisis and rising climate risks, the budget for agricultural research was slashed from ₹10,466 crore in 2025-26 (budget estimate) to ₹9,967 crore in 2026-27. Overall, ₹1.63 trillion was allocated for agriculture and allied sectors, slightly higher than the ₹1.59 trillion allocated in FY26.
The finance minister announced multiple proposals for subsectors (like plantation crops and fisheries), but it disappointed by reducing funds for research, which is critical to improve agricultural productivity and efficiency, said Avinash Kishore, senior research fellow at the Delhi office of the International Food Policy Research Institute.
“The economic survey had recommended repurposing fertilizer subsidies, but nothing happened in the budget. It is important to note that the centre spends more on just fertilizer subsidies ( ₹1.9 trillion in 2025-26) than the entire budget for the agriculture sector. And cereals like rice, wheat and maize corner most of those subsidies,” Kishore said.
The Economic Survey had also warned against the growing cultivation of crops like maize for biofuel production and against replacing oilseeds and pulses—the crops where India’s import dependence is growing.
Fertilizer subsidies and direct cash transfers to farmers ( ₹63,500 crore per year) can be better used to enhance productivity and on research spending, according to Kishore. “The budget speaks about crop diversification but allocations for fisheries and livestock sectors are not commensurate with the bulk of the funds directed towards conventional crops like cereals.”
The budget documents reveal that several missions on cotton, pulses, perishables and seeds, which were announced in the previous budget, are yet to be operationalized and received zero allocations for FY27.
