Mounting debt, lack of godowns and warehouse facilities, poor-quality seeds, and pesticides and rising suicide rates show that Indian farmers continue to fight long-standing battles. With the Union Budget 2026–27 approaching, the question remains whether it can deliver meaningful relief and help make agriculture a profitable pursuit.Farmer leaders and policy experts say Budgets have increasingly become routine exercises, with limited monitoring of the implementation of announced schemes.Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said farm distress was the result of policy paralysis at multiple levels. “I believe we do not have any robust monitoring platform to check whether the various welfare schemes announced by the government are reaching the intended masses or not,” he told The Tribune.Agriculture policy expert Devinder Sharma raised concerns over the absence of “ease of doing farming” despite the government’s emphasis on “ease of doing business”. He said that the biggest crisis in Indian agriculture was the denial of farmers’ rightful income.“The government has taken a multitude of steps to incentivise industry, but where is the political will to give the rightful share of income to our farmers? Even today, when a farmer reaches the mandi, weighing scales do not work, produce is abandoned on roads for lack of storage or adequate prices and many mandis, especially in Punjab, do not even have roofs,” he said.Sharma claimed that nearly 70 per cent of the sector’s problems stemmed from poor governance. Citing an OECD report on producer subsidy support, he said India was among countries where farmers had suffered sustained losses. “The report stated that Indian farmers incurred losses of Rs 111 lakh crore between 2000 and 2026, yet the scale of this crisis has barely been discussed,” he added.Economist Akash Jindal, however, expressed hope that the upcoming Budget could address key gaps. “We believe the government is committed to making farming a profitable venture,” he said, adding that increased allocation under the Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, interest-free loans and incentives on farm equipment were expected.Experts also flagged climate change and poor market linkages as pressing concerns. One analyst said farmers lacked access to real-time prices, affecting their bargaining power.BKU (Arajnaitik) national spokesperson Dharmendra Malik said many farmers were opting out of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana due to procedural issues. “Farmers pay the premium, but compensation is often routed at the village level instead of to individual cultivators. There should be more crop insurance options,” he said.Malik also stressed the need for better guidance on pesticide use and climate-resilient seeds, warning against excessive dependence on private firms supplying hybrid varieties.