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Budget pushes region-wise high-value crop programmes

The Union Budget 2026-27 anchors a crop-specific, region-by-region plan — coastal plantations, North-Eastern agarwood and Himalayan nut crops — to lift farm incomes and diversify away from cereals.

What happened

A PIB backgrounder set out how the Union Budget 2026-27 promotes high-value crops through a regionally differentiated strategy rather than a single national scheme.
Coastal regions: a proposed Coconut Promotion Scheme, a dedicated programme to make India self-reliant in raw cashew and cocoa and brand "Indian Cashew" and "Indian Cocoa" by 2030, plus focused sandalwood cultivation and post-harvest processing.
North-Eastern States: a push on agarwood (oud/agar) cultivation, where India already holds roughly 150 million trees as of January 2026, about 90% in the NER.
Hilly regions: a dedicated programme for high-density cultivation of premium nuts — walnut, almond and pine-nut (Chilgoza).
The framing rests on horticulture, now about 37% of the Gross Value Output of the agricultural-crops sub-sector and growing faster than staples.
"High-value crops" here means horticultural produce — fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices and aromatic plants — that yield significantly higher net returns per hectare than cereals and pulses.

Background & context

India's agriculture sector grew at about 4.45% over the past decade, the strongest decadal pace, and the backgrounder positions horticulture as the engine of that growth and of a Viksit Bharat farm vision. Horticultural production rose from 277.35 million tonnes in 2013-14 to 370.74 million tonnes in 2024-25 (117.65 MT fruits, 217.80 MT vegetables, 35.29 MT other produce). India ranks second worldwide in the output of vegetables, fruits and potato, and is the world's largest producer of onions and shallots (close to 22.42% of global production).

Rather than a uniform countrywide scheme, the Budget's approach matches each high-value crop to the agro-climatic zone where it grows best. This builds on an existing institutional spine: the Coconut Development Board and the Directorate of Cashewnut and Cocoa Development, both under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, and the umbrella Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), the centrally sponsored scheme through which horticulture support is channelled. Several of the new lines — the Coconut Promotion Scheme, the cashew-and-cocoa self-reliance programme, the sandalwood and Himalayan-nut programmes — are Budget proposals layered onto this existing horticulture machinery.

Coastal plantation crops

Coconut is the centrepiece. The sector supports the livelihoods of about 30 million people, including nearly 10 million farmers. India ranks second globally in production (around 22.44% of world output) and third in area (about 19.32% of the global coconut-growing area), producing roughly 13.97 million tonnes in 2024-25 from 2.19 million hectares (productivity 6.36 tonnes/ha). State leadership splits three ways: Kerala has the largest area (about 7.54 lakh hectares), Tamil Nadu leads in overall production, and Andhra Pradesh records the highest productivity, followed by West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Coconut and coconut-based exports reached about ₹4,349.03 crore (USD 513 million) in 2024-25, a 25% rise. An MSP for copra (dried coconut kernel) already exists, and the Coconut Development Board promotes the crop across 22 States and UTs and has built Coconut Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs). The proposed Coconut Promotion Scheme targets higher production and productivity, including by replacing ageing, low-yielding palms.

Cashew and cocoa are administered through the Directorate of Cashewnut and Cocoa Development at Kochi, Kerala, a subordinate office of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare that monitors schemes under MIDH. Cashew — introduced to India in the sixteenth century and called the "Gold Mine of Wasteland" — is grown on nearly 12.05 lakh hectares with output above 8.02 lakh tonnes a year across Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and parts of the North-East. Cashew exports stood at USD 369.17 million in 2024-25. Cocoa is mainly grown as an intercrop with coconut and arecanut, concentrated in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu; 2024-25 output was about 32.91 thousand tonnes and exports reached USD 295.58 million. Sandalwood — Santalum album, Indian sandalwood or chandan, valued for its essential oil — sees more than 90% of India's resources concentrated in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and the Budget proposes focused cultivation and processing.

North-Eastern agarwood

Agarwood (oud/agar) is the resinous, fragrant heartwood used in traditional medicine, religious practice and luxury perfumery. As of January 2026 India hosts nearly 150 million agarwood trees, about 90% in the North-Eastern States under plantation and agroforestry systems; Tripura's market alone is estimated at an annual turnover potential of around ₹2,000 crore. A strategic roadmap approved by the Government in 2024 promotes sustainable cultivation, processing and trade. Because the trade is internationally regulated, export quotas are set under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora): 151,080 kg for agarwood chips and 7,050 kg for agarwood oil, with export applications integrated into the DGFT portal.

Himalayan nut crops

The hilly programme targets three temperate nuts. Walnut is the most important temperate nut crop, with Jammu & Kashmir accounting for the majority of production (3.22 lakh tonnes in 2024-25; exports USD 7.80 million in FY 2024-25 to markets including the UAE, Turkey, Iraq, Singapore, Algeria, Qatar, Bhutan, Kuwait, Seychelles and Nigeria). Almonds reached 13.94 thousand tonnes in 2024-25, grown in J&K, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, with J&K supplying more than 83%. Chilgoza (pine nut), the "Champion of the Rocky Mountains," is a livelihood crop for tribal communities in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh, growing in the inner arid valleys of the north-western Himalayas. The Budget proposes a dedicated programme for high-density cultivation of all three.

For Prelims

What "high-value crops" are: horticultural produce (fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices, aromatic plants) returning more net income per hectare than cereals/pulses; horticulture is ~37% of agri-crops GVO.
Coconut leadership (remember the split): Kerala — largest area; Tamil Nadu — highest production; Andhra Pradesh — highest productivity. India: 2nd in production (~22.44%), 3rd in area (~19.32%).
Nodal bodies: Coconut Development Board and Directorate of Cashewnut & Cocoa Development (Kochi) — both under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare; horticulture support runs through MIDH.
MSP exists for copra (dried coconut kernel), not for fresh coconut.
Agarwood: ~150 million trees (Jan 2026), ~90% in the NER; international trade regulated under CITES; quotas — 151,080 kg chips, 7,050 kg oil.
Sandalwood = Santalum album; >90% of India's resources in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Chilgoza (pine nut): "Champion of the Rocky Mountains," tribal livelihood crop of Kinnaur (Himachal Pradesh), inner dry valleys of the NW Himalayas.
Cashew: introduced in the 16th century, "Gold Mine of Wasteland"; top growers include Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala.
Region-to-crop map: coast — coconut, cashew, cocoa, sandalwood · NER — agarwood · hills — walnut, almond, chilgoza.

For UPSC: Chilgoza = pine nut, livelihood crop of tribal communities in Kinnaur (HP). Agarwood (oud) trade is CITES-regulated. Coconut: Tamil Nadu leads production, Kerala leads area, Andhra Pradesh highest productivity.

What it is NOT: This is a set of Budget proposals and existing-programme pushes, not one single new "High Value Crop Mission" — there is no umbrella scheme by that name. The Coconut Promotion Scheme, the cashew-and-cocoa self-reliance programme and the Himalayan-nut programme are distinct lines, several routed through MIDH. CITES is a trade-regulation convention, not a cultivation subsidy. MSP applies to copra, not to whole coconuts. And horticulture's "second in the world" rank is for fruits, vegetables and potato — India is the largest producer of onions and shallots, not second.

Why it matters

The shift addresses a structural problem in Indian agriculture: heavy dependence on water- and subsidy-intensive cereals that yield thin margins per acre. High-value horticulture offers higher returns, supports labour-intensive livelihoods (the coconut sector alone touches ~30 million people), and feeds export earnings that are already in the hundreds of millions of dollars for cashew, cocoa and coconut products. By matching each crop to its natural agro-climatic zone, the strategy seeks better yields with less ecological strain than forcing uniform cropping. It also folds in regional development goals — agarwood for the North-East, chilgoza for tribal hill communities in Kinnaur — and a branding ambition (premium "Indian Cashew" and "Indian Cocoa" by 2030) that ties farm policy to global market positioning. The CITES quota detail underlines a recurring governance theme: scaling a forest-linked crop like agarwood requires reconciling commercial promotion with conservation compliance.

For Mains

Data

India is second in coconut output (~22.44%) and the largest producer of onions/shallots; horticulture is ~37% of agri-crops GVO and rose from 277.35 MT (2013-14) to 370.74 MT (2024-25) — hard numbers for any answer on crop diversification or farm incomes.

Exemplify

The coast–NER–hills crop map (coconut/cashew/cocoa/sandalwood · agarwood · walnut/almond/chilgoza) is a clean example of region-specific, agro-climatically aligned agricultural planning.

Way-forward

Replacing ageing low-yield palms, building FPOs, securing CITES-compliant agarwood exports and premium branding by 2030 are concrete way-forward levers for diversifying away from cereals.

Problematise

The reliance on a regulated, forest-linked crop (agarwood under CITES quotas) flags the tension between commercial scale-up and conservation compliance — a real gap to interrogate.

Deploys into: GS3.4 (crops, cropping patterns, e-technology for farmers) · GS3.5 (MSP, food security, animal rearing/allied sectors) · GS3.6 (food processing and value addition) — crop diversification, doubling farm incomes, and horticulture-led value chains.

PIB Backgrounder (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare) · 2026-04-19 · PRID 2253483 · PIB source ↗