Budget 2024: FM Nirmala Sitharaman unveils new plan for major agriculture upgrade

In the Budget 2024-05 presented today, Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that new 109 high-yielding and climate-resilient varieties of 32 field and cultivation crops will be released for farmers in this financial year.

An allocation of Rs 1.52 lakh crore was made for the agriculture and allied sectors.

The Budget laid out 9 priorities for the year ahead, one of them being productivity & resilience in agriculture.


The govt will undertake comprehensive review of research to develop climate resilient seeds, Sitharaman announced.

Besides, the govt in partnership with states will promote digital public infra for agriculture.

In the next 2 years, one crore farmers will be initiated in natural farming, it was announced. Rs 2.66 lakh crore will be provided for rural development, the FM said.

The Finance Minister said that the government will do a comprehensive review of the agricultural research set-up to raise productivity and develop climate-resilient varieties.

Domain experts will oversee the conduct of this research to ensure its effectiveness and relevance, it was announced.

To enhance the supply chain of vegetables, the budget proposed the development of large-scale clusters for vegetable production near major consumption centres.

The Finance minister announced a three-year plan to facilitate the digital public infrastructure for agriculture, aiming to cover farmers and their lands comprehensively.

She said a digital crop survey for Kharif crops will be conducted in 400 districts this year, integrating the details of six crore farmers and their lands into farmer and land registries.

Recognizing the potential of aquaculture, the budget provides financial support for setting up a network of nucleus breeding centers for shrimp broodstocks.

A new national cooperation policy will be introduced to ensure the systematic, orderly, and all-round development of the cooperative sector.