Union Budget 2025 Expectations: Agriculture Sector Look For More Monetary Support, Infra Push

According to the Economic Survey 2023-24, India’s agricultural sector has experienced an average annual growth rate of 4.18 per cent at constant prices over the past five years.

Industry experts are looking forward to the upcoming budget to see what the government has in store this time

Source : Pexels

Union Budget 2025: Agriculture is one of the most important parts of the Indian economy as contributes over 15 per cent to India's GDP and Indian Union Budget announcements over the year have given a special focus to the sector every time. The agriculture sector employs more than 45 per cent of the population. 

According to the Economic Survey 2023-24, India’s agricultural sector has experienced an average annual growth rate of 4.18 per cent at constant prices over the past five years. Industry experts are looking forward to the upcoming budget to see what the government has in store for the sector. Here are some of the expert's voices sharing what they expect from the upcoming Union Budget 2025.

Elaborating on the recommendations, Hrishit Panthry, Co-Founder, of Envirocare Foundation, said, “For a long time now, India’s economy has been profoundly reliant on the agriculture sector. Not only does it aid towards GDP but also serves as a source of employment for countless individuals. Understanding such importance, several measures have been taken, to strengthen the sector, in a manner that would ensure that growth cannot be at the expense of the improvement of farmers’ welfare. Policies such as PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana through which income is directly provided to farmers or the Soils Health Card Scheme which targets the use of fertilizers in a balanced manner, showcase such efforts to some extent.”

“Also, the government’s emphasis on the use of technology for modernizing agriculture has been praiseworthy. Projects like Digital Agriculture Mission, and provision for subsidies on farm devices and irrigation facilities have made it possible for farmers to increase output and save on the input. Moreover, the introduction of Minimum Support Prices (MSP), and crop insurance programs such as Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana has helped farmers maintain themselves throughout unfavourable markets and adverse weather conditions,” he added.

Shrikant Goenka, Managing Director, Premier Irrigation Adritec (PIAL), highlighted that the agriculture sector, which is considered the backbone of the Indian economy, still requires much attention and investment as the Union Budget 2025 is upcoming. “Various political constituencies including farmers, policy makers and other stakeholder individuals hold high expectations with regards to challenges and reforms in order to improve productivity, income and sustainability of the sector,” he noted.

He said that the first of the expectations is that the spending will be moved towards improving the physical facilities for agricultural activities. “The infrastructure investment in matters to do with cold storage, warehousing, and supply chain management is important in minimizing losses after harvest and increasing access to the markets for the producers. Also, subsidies and incentives have to be provided to take advantage of the new advanced technologies such as drones, AI based monitoring, IoT and possibility of large yield and efficient use of resources in precision farming,” Goenka added.

He further said that the sector also awaits measures on issues of water management and climate change. Additional capital for microSP, WSP, and INRM/RE-tech such as solar pumps can go a long way in helping farmers. Other programs that look at ways of practising farming that will be environmentally friendly include programs that support organic farming and farming that improves the fertility of the soil.  

Aman J Jain, Co-Founder and CEO, of Doodhvale Farms, said, “With Union Budget 2025 around the corner the key players across dairy and poultry value chains are hopeful of seeing policy interventions that will help these sectors overcome problems and chart out future growth paths. These segments are important sources of rural income and food security and need interventions to improve efficiency, access to markets, and production risk cover against climatic and market risks.”

“One of the expectations is that financial incentives for modernising infrastructure in the dairy and poultry industries will be formulated. Sewage, storage, and marketing capacities in food processing facilities, cold storage and good supply chains lower wastage and increase farmer’s returns. Moreover, on transport the subsidies on fodder and feed cost are very important as the burden on dairy and poultry farmers becomes very high in the context of rising input prices,” he added.

“The funding in the dairy sector, currently dominated by artificial insemination, breed improvement programs and veterinary services should be enhanced to increase yields and improve the health of the dairy herds. Similarly, poultry farmers presume that measures to prevent diseases from striking their birds through adoption of biosecurity measures and bonuses for embracing such sustainable farming practices as cage-free farming will be coming along,” he opined.