BS EDIT: Budget 2025: A boost for agriculture and rural prosperity

Agriculture in focus

• Beyond tax cuts, Budget boosts farm productivity

• Aims to support rural growth and income

PM Dhan-Dhanya Krishi Yojana

• Targets 100 low-productivity districts

• Focus on crop diversification & credit access

• To benefit 17 million farmers

Self-sufficiency in pulses

• 6-year push for tur, masoor & urad

• Assured procurement for 4 years

• Helps shift Punjab, Haryana farmers from wheat-paddy cycle

Boost for seeds, cotton & fisheries

• National seed & cotton missions launched

• Makhana Board set up in Bihar

• Fisheries sector to get policy support

Credit access expands

• Kisan credit card limit raised to Rs 5 lakh

• Benefits 77 million farmers

• Improves access to low-cost loans

Stronger farm policy, gaps remain

• Agriculture budget up 22% to Rs 1.71 trillion

• Higher output to ease food inflation

• Need for more R&D to tackle climate risks