The Budget for FY27 put a special focus on allied sectors of agriculture with an emphasis on cash crops such as coconut, cocoa, cashew and sandalwood as well as fisheries and animal husbandry sector.
“We will support high-value crops such as coconut, sandalwood, cocoa and cashew in our coastal areas. Agar trees in the North East and nuts such as almonds, walnuts and pine nuts in our hilly regions will also be supported,” Finance minister Nirmal Sitharaman said in her speech.
The aim is to diversify farm output, enhance productivity and farmers’ income. A dedicated programme was proposed to transform Indian cashew and cocoa into premium global brands by 2030. This will not only make India self-reliant in cashew and cocoa production and processing but also enhance export competitiveness.
“The emphasis on high-value crops across coastal and hill regions will support diversification, strengthen agri-value chains, and enhance farmers income,” Tarun Sawhney, vice-chairman and MD, Triveni Engineering & Industries, a leading sugar manufacturer, said.
“Less rhetoric, more on specifics,” said Ajay Vir Jhakar, chairman, Bharat Krishak Samaj.
Developing Fisheries Value Chain
A scheme for the integrated development of 500 reservoirs and Amrit Sarovars, strengthening the fisheries value chain in coastal areas and enabling market linkages involving start-ups and women-led groups and fish farmers collectives was also announced.
The targeted attention on livestock, fisheries and allied sectors is a clear shift towards diversified and income-resilient farm systems. “The new loan linked capital support for veterinary education, hospitals, diagnostics and breeding infrastructure will expand capacity and high quality services across rural India,” Sunil Kataria, MD & CEO, Godrej Agrovet, said.
In line with the overall focus on enhancing the country’s technological prowess, the Budget proposed launching of Bharat-VISTAAR (Virtually Integrated System to Access Agricultural Resources), a multilingual AI tool that shall integrate the AgriStack portals and the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) package on agricultural practices.
“Building on digital public infrastructure like Aadhaar, UPI and agristack, Bharat VISTAAR has been built for the last mile connect with farmers ensuring agricultural knowledge and services reach directly and conversatinaly in real time and in a simple way,” an agriculture ministry official added.
Bharat VISTAAR will provide information to the farmers in their regional language on crop planning, package of practices and pests, weather forecast, markets, and scheme information, eligibility, application and grievance redressal. The government has made the provision of Rs 150 crore in FY27 for the AI initiative.
Susheel Kumar, country head & MD, Syngenta India, said the Budget’s emphasis on AI-led agriculture recognise the role of digital advisory in improving farm-level decision-making, productivity and resilience.
Major Budgetary Allocations
For the department of agriculture and farmers welfare, the Budget has made a provision (budget estimate) of Rs 1.3 lakh crore which includes Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (Rs 63,500 crore), Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (Rs 22,600 crore), Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (Rs 12,200 crore) and PM Asha (Rs 7200 crore) for 2026-27, an increase of 6% from revised estimate of FY26.
For agricultural research, the BE for the FY27 has been fixed at Rs 9967 crore marginally lower than RE of Rs 10.280 crore for FY26.
“Scaling up the number of veterinary professionals by more than 20,000 as proposed in the Budget is key to supporting the dairy industry at the grassroots level where farmers often lose cattle even under avoidable situations,” Akshali Shah, executive director, Parag Milk Foods, said.
Ajai Rana, chairman, Federation of Seed Industry of India, said the provision of supporting cooperatives and input supply chains will complement and improve the overall agricultural scenario.