Pre-Budget Talks: Farm Experts Urge Sitharaman For Crop-Insurance Overhaul, R&D Push
Ajay Vir Jakhar's submission includes calls for developing 5,000 census towns for inclusive growth, introducing a Digital Services Tax on tech firms’ India revenue.
In the run-up to Budget 2026, agriculture experts, including Ajay Vir Jakhar, chairperson of Bharat Krishak Samaj, have urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to overhaul India’s farm support systems, calling for a shift toward more "direct, effective and transparent" farm support.
Jakhar’s top recommendation is a complete re-conceptualisation of crop insurance. He said the Union government's current system, where it covers 90% of the premium under the PM Fasal Bima Yojana, failed to deliver satisfaction to either farmers or states.
Instead, he proposed replacing the PMFBY with a crop compensation scheme or fund, which would directly compensate farmers for losses without the delays and disputes that plague current insurance mechanisms.
He also called for doubling expenditure on agricultural research and development, warning that R&D funding has declined in real terms over the past two decades. "Without long-term investment in research, India’s farm productivity and climate resilience will stagnate," Jakhar cautioned.
To protect domestic producers, Jakhar urged the government to impose import duties on MSP crops to ensure that imported goods do not land at prices below India's minimum support prices. Such a measure, he said, would prevent distress to farmers caused by cheaper imports during harvest seasons.
With agriculture growing at around 4% and population growth slowing to 0.5%, he also recommended a 25% increase in urea prices, arguing that fertilizer subsidies should be restructured and the savings redirected toward direct farmer benefits. He further proposed mandatory real-time reporting of agricultural input sales by retailers to help states track supply and prevent misuse.
Beyond agriculture, Jakhar’s submission includes calls for developing 5,000 census towns for inclusive growth, introducing a Digital Services Tax on tech firms’ India revenue, and freezing government salary and pension outlays to contain fiscal pressures.
