TIRUCHY: Despite lauding the schemes promoting sandalwood and coconut cultivation and announcement to take cashew produce to the world market, farmers expressed dissatisfaction over the Union Budget 2026 for its failure to announce any scheme to increase the cultivated area and MSP enhancement for paddy, wheat and sugarcane and a project for linking of rivers, which they have been demanding for years.
According to PS Masilamani, general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, affiliated to the Communist Party of India (CPI), despite several hardships, the farmers have been meeting the target for paddy cultivation every season, but the enhancement of MSP has not been announced in the budget. “We have been fighting for enhanced MSP for the past 10 years, but the Union government does not pay heed to the demands. Similarly, there is no announcement for the permanent disaster relief fund for the farmers who have been facing natural calamities during the cultivation and have faced severe crop loss,” Masilamani said.
He added that the groundwater has been depleting across the country and the farmers were expecting an announcement about the river linking project, which would also replenish groundwater, but this announcement was also missing in the budget. The announcement building waterways would benefit only the corporates, Masilamani added.
PR Pandian, president of the Coordination Committee for All Farmers Association, said that “The long-pending demand of crop loan waiver and marketing mechanism for the agriculture producers is missing in the budget.”
He lauded the schemes introduced to promote sandalwood and coconut cultivation and to ensure a global market for cashew produce. But he lamented that there is no announcement about the execution of the schemes, and the budget disappoints the farmers because it lacks focus on increasing the cultivation areas of paddy, wheat, and sugarcane.
Meanwhile, Swamimalai Sundara Vimalnathan said, "The farmers have been fighting for a crop loan waiver since 2007, but the union government is keen on writing off corporate loans to the tune of Rs 14 lakh crores through tax exemptions and loan waivers." He also expressed dissatisfaction about not meeting the demand for enhanced MSP for crops as per the recommendations of MS Swaminathan.
He also said there is no scheme to implement the Prime Minister’s visionary announcement to double MSP for agricultural produce. He added that the Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PMKSNY), introduced in 2019 with an annual income support of Rs 6,000, has not increased aid so far. “While the input cost has been increased to triple fold since 2019, the PMKSNY has been standing still with Rs 6,000 per year”, he said.