Subsidies To Jobs: What Is In FM Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget For Farming, Rural Sector?

Last Updated:February 01, 2026, 12:28 IST

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced measures to increase farmers’ income under the inclusive development target

FM Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Budget on Sunday. (PTI)

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday announced a plethora of initiatives for farmers and the rural sector, saying banks now cover 98% of our villages.

The FM announced measures to increase farmer income under the inclusive development target. The Budget launched credit-linked subsidy programme for animal husbandry, support for high-value crops such as coconut, cashew in coastal areas. . “I propose a coconut promotion scheme to increase production and enhance productivity through various interventions, replacing non-productive trees with new saplings or varieties in major coconut-growing states," the Finance Minister said.

The FM also announced that the Centre would partner with states to promote cultivation of sandalwood, along with support for incomes of walnuts, almonds, pinenuts farmers. The government also intends to launch a dedicated programme for cashew and cocoa cultivation to make India self-reliant in raw cashew and cocoa production and processing. The initiative also aims to enhance export competitiveness and transform Indian cashew and Indian cocoa into premium global brands by 2030. It will also focus on strengthening value addition and branding. Additionally, sandalwood, which is closely linked to India’s social and cultural heritage, will receive focused attention under efforts to preserve and promote its legacy and economic potential.

Finance Minister Sitharaman also announced that the government will create a network of over 1,000 accredited Indian clinical trial sites. She also proposed credit-linked subsidy programme to encourage livestock farmer producer organisations to promote employment opportunities.

Sitharaman announced the launch of ‘Bharat Vistar’, a multilingual AI tool to integrate agri stack; and setting up of ‘She Marts’ as community-owned retail outlets.

“Keeping Aatmanirbharta as a lodestar, we have built domestic manufacturing capacity, energy security and reduced critical import dependencies. Simultaneously, we have ensured that citizens benefit from every action of the Government, undertaking reforms to support employment generation, agricultural productivity, household purchasing power and universal services to people. These measures have delivered a high growth rate of around 7% and helped us make susbstantial strides in poverty reduction and improvement in the lives of our people," said Sitharaman.

Sitharaman also announced a slew of measures for the textile sector. The National Fibre Scheme for self-reliance in natural fibres such as silk, wool and jute, man-made fibres, and new-age fibres; the Textile Expansion and Employment Scheme to modernise traditional clusters with capital support for machinery, technology upgradation, and common testing and certification centres; National Handloom and Handicraft Programme to integrate and strengthen existing schemes and ensure targeted support for weavers and artisans.

The Text-ECON initiative to promote globally competitive and sustainable textiles and apparel; SAMARTH 2.0 to modernise and upgrade the textile skilling ecosystem through collaboration with industry and academic institutions too were announced.

Further, I propose to set up mega textile parks in challenge mode. They can also focus on bringing value addition to technical textiles. I also propose to launch the Mahatma Gandhi Gram Swaraj initiative to strengthen handloom and handicrafts. This will help in global market linkages and branding. It will streamline and support training, skilling, and quality processes in production. These measures will benefit our weavers, village industries, the One District, One Product (ODOP) initiative, and our rural youth.

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