ASHA-Kisan Swaraj’s response to Union Budget 2026-27 and agriculture sector

PRESS RELEASE

Government of India drops any pretence of even lip-service to farmers of India

Farmers have been placed along with the most marginalised, under “Sab ka Saath, Sab ka Vikaas” for divyang persons amongst others, and not as engines for Viksit Bharat –

Budget 2026 ignores the real situation in the agriculture sector which is seeing a significant swelling of workers returning to the sector, and sets its eyes on election-bound states of India, in its meagre and lacklustre approach to agriculture –

Lack of importance for farmers and agriculture reflected in the budgetary allocation decline to 3.04% of the budget to agriculture & allied 

New Delhi, February 1st, 2026: The Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA-Kisan Swaraj) severely criticizes the Union Government for not only neglecting farmers in Budget 2026-27, but for relegating them to the status of the most marginalised/disabled, rather than making them into engines of growth for Viksit Bharat. The disregard towards farmers and their role in nation-building is reflected in the further slash of budgetary allocations to agriculture and allied sectors which now stand at only 3.04% of the overall budget allocations of the Union Government, down from 5.44% in 2019-20.

It was shocking that when the Finance Minister spoke of the first kartavya of economic growth by enhancing productivity and competitiveness, six areas were listed but Agriculture was not one of them. Even more shockingly, in the third kartavya of Sabka saath Sabka vikas, farmers were listed along with Divyangjan, and people affected by mental health and trauma, among the most marginalized and neglected sections. This shows up the reality of farmers and agricultural workers in India at this time, and their place in the order of priority of the government.

Even as the Total Budget increased from 50.65 lakh crores in 2025-26 to 53.47 lakh crores in 2026-27, the budget allocation for Agriculture and Allied Sectors has been reduced by Rs. 9,000 crores from Rs. 1.72 lakh crores  to Rs. 1.63 lakh crores. What makes things worse is the significant under-spending of budget allocations every year – for example, the Revised Expenditure for 2025-26 has been reduced to Rs. 1.52 lakh crores, a reduction of nearly Rs.20,000 crores or a whopping 12%. Therefore, the share of agriculture this year is likely to fall below 3% in actual expenditure. 

Several schemes have seen a decline in allocations. Shockingly, certain schemes announced with much fanfare last year received zero allocations in the RE2025-26 leading to non-implementation of the scheme, with the same schemes not featuring in this year’s budget. For instance, in last year’s budget, the government announced many new schemes, such as the Mission for Atmanirbharta in Pulses, Mission for Vegetables and Fruits, Mission on High-Yielding Seeds, and Cotton Technology Mission with great fanfare and allocations of Rs.500 crores or Rs.1000 crores each. The Revised Estimates for 2025-26 for these Missions have been reduced to zero, and they have zero allocations in BE 2026-27,  indicating that the government has no intention of implementing these so-called Missions. 

The Union Government, which could not keep up its promise of Doubling Farmers Income by 2022, is now tragically proposing to improve farmer incomes through schemes like Bharat-VISTAAR (Virtually Integrated System to Access Agricultural Resources), an AI tool that will have almost no real benefit for the incomes of small and marginal farmers. 

A big focus of the speech was announcing dedicated schemes and programs for “high value crops” such as coconut, cashew, cocoa, sandalwood, etc., but these have relevance to a very small section of farmers. The government’s eye on election-bound states got revealed in this announcement, however.

With the climate change crisis already upon us, extreme weather events and associated damage are the current reality of our farmers. Here, risk insurance/disaster compensation coverage is most important. But the budget allocation for PMFBY, a flagship scheme of this government, has been reduced by 15.7% to ₹12200 crores compared to the actual expenditure of ₹14,473 crores in 2024-25, and almost the same budget as BE 2025-26. This is the lowest budget allocation for the scheme since 2019-20. It should be noted that due to extreme weather events in just the first 9 months of 2025, more than 9.47 million hectares of crops were damaged, a 400% increase from 1.84 million hectares damaged in 2022.

The Budget also does not address the urgent crisis of sustainability in agriculture — severe depletion of groundwater, degradation of soils and loss of crop diversity. Atal Bhujal Yojana, under Ministry of Jal Shakti, meant to promote community-led sustainable groundwater management in select water-stressed states (Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh), has its budget completely eliminated from ₹1,780.40 crores in BE 2025-26 to ₹0.13 crores. The PM Krishi Sinchai Yojana was meant to address the irrigation needs, particularly minor irrigation and initiatives such as Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) – but it has seen a 13.6% reduction from 8259.85 crores (BE 2025-26) to 7137 crores. 

The government has spoken repeatedly about promotion of Natural Farming, with the Prime Minister himself mentioning it in an earlier Independence Day speech, but the budget allocation for the National Mission on Natural Farming is only 750 crores — which does not show real commitment to expand the program in a sustained manner. It is no wonder that the expansion of natural farming is seriously languishing, once again showing the large gap between rhetoric and reality. 

The Budget speech makes no mention of agricultural workers. Though the government has recently given great publicity to the VBGRAMG which was brought in, decimating the MGNREGA in letter and spirit, the Budget speech makes no mention of it. Though a budget allocation of Rs.95,962 crores has been made for the new scheme, it is highly likely that only a fraction of the amount would be spent given the new norm of the Union Govt’s share being only 60%, with the remaining having to come from states/UTs. 

There has been a decline in the share of the budget allocated to nutrition schemes. Between FY 2016-17 to FY 2026-27, the allocation to ICDS fell from 0.8% to 0.43% of the Union Budget, while the allocation to the PM Poshan scheme (earlier the Mid Day Meal scheme) fell from 0.49% to 0.24% of the Union Budget.

Against this alarming background, ASHA urges farmers of India to engage with these developments that showcase negligence and disregard towards the sector, and ensure that the government is responsive to the largest segment of workers in our economy.  

For more information, contact Kiran Vissa 9701705743, or Shyam Sundar Sridhar 8056219285