Farm jam: Budget bets on nuts, cocoa, fisheries to boost agri value

Experts stated that the budget’s support for high-value agricultural products and related sectors will help India reduce import dependence, increase farm incomes, strengthen exports and modernize agricultural practices, pointing out that it will bring a new perspective to areas that have been relatively stranded in providing adequate funds in the last few years.“Refocus on crops like cocoa, coconut and cashew will help the government reduce the import bill while increasing farmers’ income and boosting exports,” said Chirag Jain, agriculture and allied services partner at Grant Thornton Bharat. The Coconut Incentive Program will help increase coconut oil production, which has stagnated over the last decade. Coastal states such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which are major producers, struggle with low productivity, limited acreage and high import dependence.

“Coconut and coconut oil production has remained stable for the last few years at around 600,000 tonnes of coconut and 400,000 tonnes of coconut oil. Last year, it dropped to 450,000 tonnes of oil. The production of old plantations has been decreasing over the years,” said BV Mehta, Executive Director, Association of Solvent Extractors.
India’s coconut exports increased from 1.76 lakh tonnes in FY24 to 1.88 lakh tonnes in FY25, an increase of 7%. Exports of cocoa and related products increased by 26% from 36,186 tonnes in FY24 to 4.54 lakh tonnes in FY25. Special programs for coconut and cocoa are expected to help more than 10 million small and marginal farmers.

cashew nuts

The budget announced a special program for cashew production and processing and encouraged high-intensity cultivation of almonds and walnuts in the Himalayan region to reduce import dependency. Gunjan Jain, President, Nuts and Dry Fruit Council of India (NDFC-I), said this will promote scientific cultivation in suitable areas, increase yield and quality and gradually reduce long-term import dependency while improving economy at the farm level. India meets nearly 100% of its almond demand and more than 50% of its cashew and walnut demand through imports.
Fishing and animal husbandryG Pawan Kumar, President, Indian Seafood Exporters Association, said the three-fold increase in the duty-free import limit of some inputs used in processing by the seafood industry is expected to increase the share of value-added products in India’s seafood export basket and reduce the cost of production at a time when the industry is facing the crisis of high US tariffs.

Value-added products account for about 11% of India’s total seafood exports, which exceed $7 billion, compared to rivals such as Vietnam and Thailand, which have more than 30% value-added product share in total seafood exports. Livestock and fisheries have been the largest contributors to this sector, accounting for more than 38% of the gross value added (GVA) of agriculture. The potential of these sectors will be further strengthened with new initiatives aimed at modernizing and scaling livestock enterprises.

The budget allocated Rs 1,62,671 billion to the agriculture sector, an increase of 7.12% from the revised estimate of Rs 1,51,853 billion for 2025-26.

Technology

Bharat-VISTAAR, announced in the budget, is expected to strengthen the government’s agristack initiative by integrating existing architecture with ICAR’s research, knowledge transfer and digital extension capabilities.