NEW DELHI: Despite describing agriculture as the primary engine of growth, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced only a modest increase in funding for the sector, while allocations for agricultural research have declined.
The budgetary allocation for 2026–27 represents an increase of around 2.56% over the previous year’s Budget Estimates and over 6% compared to last year’s Revised Estimates. However, funding for agricultural research has been reduced by approximately 5%.
The total allocation for the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare stands at ₹1,30,661.38 crore for 2026–27, up from ₹1,27,290 crore in 2025–26. Nearly half of this amount will be disbursed directly to farmers through the PM-KISAN scheme, which provides income support of ₹6,000 per year to each farm household.
A significant increase has been announced for the Krishonnati scheme, which has received a 40% boost compared to the previous year. The allocation for the scheme has risen to ₹11,200 crore from ₹8,000 crore last year. Krishonnati serves as an umbrella programme encompassing 11 initiatives, including missions for fruits and vegetables and village uplift programmes in tribal areas.
Funding for the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) has remained largely unchanged, with a marginal increase from ₹8,500 crore in 2025–26 to ₹8,550 crore in 2026–27.
There is a renewed focus on natural farming, with allocations for the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) increasing by over 21% from the previous year. While the Revised Estimate for the current year stands at ₹725 crore, exceeding the original allocation, the budget for 2026–27 has been set at ₹750 crore.
For coconut cultivation, the Finance Minister has maintained the allocation at ₹37.16 crore, in line with the Revised Estimate for the current fiscal year, compared to ₹35 crore in the previous year.
In addition, Sitharaman announced a new support scheme for high-value crops, including coconut, sandalwood, cocoa and cashew in coastal regions, as well as almonds, walnuts and pine nuts grown in hilly areas. This push is aligned with recently signed free trade agreements with European countries and the UK. The government aims to strengthen value chains for crops such as cashew, cocoa and almonds, which India largely imports and often sends abroad for processing despite domestic production.
Commenting on the budget, Siraj Hussain, former Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, said, “The support for fisheries, animal husbandry, dairy, coconut, almond, walnut and sandalwood is commendable, but there is no allocation for direct investment in agricultural infrastructure. We need to invest in our Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) to develop at least some of them into world-class facilities.”
Allocations for the Price Stabilisation Fund have been increased by around 4%, taking the total to ₹7,200 crore.
The government has also proposed the introduction of a multilingual AI chatbot that will integrate the Agristack portals with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) packages on agricultural practices, leveraging artificial intelligence to support farmers.