Agri growth estimated to be lower at 4% in FY26: Niti's Ramesh Chand

India's agriculture sector growth is estimated to be lower at 4 per cent in the 2025-26 financial year compared to the rate of 4.6 per cent recorded in the previous fiscal, a senior government official said on Monday.

"It (agri growth) will be close to 4 per cent in FY 2025-26. It is difficult to attribute reasons for lower growth at this point of time," Ramesh Chand, member of government think tank Niti Aayog, told PTI on the sidelines of an agri business summit.

The agri growth keeps fluctuating as base effect is low. The flood impact in Punjab is only in a limited area, and that is unlikely to bring down the state's growth, he said.

"Looking at the first half of FY 2025-26 growth figures for agriculture sector, the second half will be normal," Chand noted.

Farm growth was estimated at 3.7 per cent in the first quarter and 3.5 per cent in the second quarter of the current fiscal year. In 2024-25, overall farm growth reached 4.63 per cent, he added.

Chand said India's agricultural growth has reached a historic high of 4.6 per cent over the past decade, surpassing China's farm sector growth rate.

However, the country needs to achieve a 5 per cent growth in agriculture to support its goal of becoming a developed nation, he said at the event organised by industry body PHDCCI.

He warned that with domestic food demand growing at only 2.5 per cent annually due to slower population growth, India would need to either export surplus production or find alternative uses such as biofuels.

Chand said India could learn from China's intensive farming methods, noting that Chinese farmers use more than twice the fertilizer India does while managing to avoid adverse environmental consequences.

He identified several growth drivers, including increasing crop intensity, expanding irrigation, and narrowing yield gaps between states. Some states achieve corn yields of 70 quintals per hectare while others manage only 25 quintals.

The official stressed the need to combat counterfeit agricultural inputs, citing an incident where a provincial agriculture director was jailed for distributing ineffective pesticides to cotton farmers.

He also advocated for giving farmers minimum support prices through direct deficiency payments rather than procurement to avoid distorting market prices and hurting export competitiveness.

With a 5 per cent growth, India could triple its agricultural GDP faster than the 24-25 years needed at current rates, Chand said, adding that this would help achieve the broader goal of making India a USD 30-trillion economy.

Agriculture Minister Shivaraj Singh Chouhan and industry representatives attended the summit.