The government has raised the allocation for agriculture by five per cent to about Rs 15,000 crore for the next fiscal to give a fillip to the sector. The total allocation for the agriculture sector has been pegged at Rs 14,999.13 crore for the coming fiscal against Rs 14,303.08 crore in 2008-09.

Grants for the department of agriculture and co-operation (DAC) have been raised to Rs10,651.45 crore for the coming fiscal from Rs 10,327.54 crore in 2008-09. This comprises Plan expenditure of Rs 10,093.30 crore and a non-Plan spend of Rs 558.15 crore.

Of Plan outlay, the central Plan accounts for Rs 6,900 crore, while state Plan is pegged at Rs 3,179.30 crore and that for Union Territories at Rs 14 crore.

Presenting the interim budget, stand-in Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the UPA government has given "focussed attention" to the farm sector and highlighted that "in the period between 2003-04 and 2008-09, our government increased the Plan allocation for agriculture by 300 per cent".

The grant for the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) has been increased to Rs 3,241.40 crore from Rs 2,960 crore. This comprises a Plan spend of Rs 1,760 crore and non-Plan expenditure of Rs 1,481.40 crore. While the planned spends for DARE remain unchanged at the previous level, the non-planned expenditure has been raised by Rs 281.4 crore.

The department of animal husbandry has been provided with a grant of Rs 1,106.28 crore for the next fiscal, compared with the revised estimate of Rs 1,015.54 crore for 2008-09.