Budget 2025 will unlock fresh funds for agri push, pulses mission, and rural resilience, says Expenditure Secy Manoj Govil

The new schemes for the agricultural sector announced in the Union Budget 2025-26 will see additional funds made available to the implementing ministries over and above their current ministry-specific budgetary allocations, Manoj Govil, Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, said.

In an exclusive interview with Fortune India, Govil said allocations for schemes like the Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana and the Rural Prosperity and Resilience programme will come from the untied portion of funds allocated to the Department of Economic Affairs. “For the new schemes, including the scheme on pulses, the details will need to be worked out. Once that is done, the proposal will be taken to the Cabinet, and once approved, allocations will be made depending on the requirements of the next financial year,” Govil said. “The money has been kept in the Department of Economic Affairs account. Once the actual requirement for the next financial year is determined, the funds will be transferred to the concerned ministries,” he added.

The Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana is planned as a convergence of existing schemes and specialised measures to enhance agricultural productivity, promote crop diversification and sustainable farming practices, augment post-harvest storage at the panchayat and block levels, improve irrigation facilities, and facilitate access to long-term and short-term credit. It will cover 100 districts with low productivity, moderate crop intensity, and below-average credit parameters and will be implemented in partnership with states.

The multi-sectoral Rural Prosperity and Resilience programme will also be a Centre-State partnership initiative aimed at addressing under-employment in agriculture through skilling, investment, technology, and efforts to invigorate the rural economy. The six-year Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses intends to promote the production of three pulses—Tur, Urad, and Masoor—in India. The mission will emphasise the development and commercial availability of climate-resilient seeds, enhancing protein content, increasing productivity, improving post-harvest storage and management, and ensuring remunerative prices for farmers.

The Union Budget 2025-26 has allocated ₹1.27 lakh crore to the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, compared to ₹1.23 lakh crore in the previous budget for 2024-25. The 2024-25 allocation was later revised upwards to ₹1.31 lakh crore.