Union Budget 2026: From coconut to chocolate, things which have got attention in this year's budget and why

India is a land of farmers, with directly employing approximately 55-56% of the workforce and contributing about 18-19% to the Gross Value Added (GVA) in recent years. Addressing the same, the Union Budget 2026-27 placed a strong emphasis on high-value agriculture, allied sectors and technology-led farming. In her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed targeted interventions to boost farmer incomes, create rural employment and modernise agricultural practices. Scroll down to read the details.

In her speech, stressing on diversifying the farm output and enhance the income of farmers, finance minister mentioned that the government will support high-value crops such as coconut, sandalwood, cocoa and cashew in coastal regions, agarwood in the North East, and nuts including walnuts, almonds and pine nuts. Dedicated programmes will focus on rejuvenating old orchards, expanding high-density cultivation and promoting value addition by engaging rural youth.

India, the world’s largest producer of coconuts, will see a new coconut promotion scheme aimed at boosting productivity through measures such as replacing non-productive trees with improved varieties in major coconut-growing states. Around 30 million people, including nearly 10 million farmers, depend on coconut cultivation for their livelihoods.

The Budget also proposed a dedicated programme for Indian cashew and cocoa to make the country self-reliant in raw material production and processing, with the goal of transforming Indian cashew and cocoa into premium global brands by 2030.

In her speech, she also mentioned that sandalwood cultivation will receive focused support through partnerships with state governments to promote scientific farming and post-harvest processing, aimed at restoring the traditional Indian sandalwood ecosystem.

With respect to fisheries, the government has proposed initiatives for the integrated development of 500 reservoirs and other water bodies to strengthen the fisheries value chain. It is reported that the focus will be on improving market linkages and supporting startups, women-led groups and fish farmer producer organisations. For animal husbandry, a credit-linked subsidy programme will be introduced to promote entrepreneurship, modernise livestock enterprises and scale up integrated value chains across dairy, poultry and livestock sectors.

The Budget also proposed the launch of Bharat Vistar, a multilingual AI tool that will integrate AgriStack portals and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s package of agricultural practices with artificial intelligence systems. The platform is expected to help farmers make better, data-driven decisions and improve overall farm productivity.

The Budget has also proposed to focus on high density cultivation of walnuts, almonds and pine nuts.