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In the Union Budget 2019-20 presented today, FM Nirmala Sitharaman laid out a 16-point action to set the agriculture sector up for better times. An allocation of Rs 2.83 lakh crore will be made for the agriculture sector, the FM announced. These included:— States need to consider 3 model agri laws— Comprehensive water plan for arid districts— 20 lakh farmers to be helped to set up standalone solar pumps— Govt shall encourage balanced use of all kind of fertilisers view a view to changing the current regime of using excessive chemical fertilisers.— Boost agri warehousing — things like cold storage.— A new village storage scheme to boost backward linkage. SHGs will spearhead this move, assisted by Mudra and NABARD.— Krishi Udaan on interntional and national routes— One product, one district scheme for horticulture sector, which already exceeds the production of foodgrains.— financing on negotiating warehousing receipts — to be intregarted with e-NAM.— NABARD refinance scheme to be further extended. Rs 15 lakh crore allocation for Kisaan credit card scheme.— Will eliminate foot and mouth disease of livestock— Marine fishery boost to help youth in coastal areasIn the run-up to February 1, expectations were that the Budget may introduce a plethora of measures for agriculture, especially with a view to pushing the government's stated objective of doubling farm income by 2022.Sectoral watchers wish list included a budgetary incentive to agri term loan for investment purposes in a sector where capital formation has badly stagnated.SBI's Ecowrap report had batted for an enabling mechanism of "either interest subvention or a credit guarantee fund" to facilitate this term loan.Another speculation doing the rounds was that the Budget may raise the farmer income support from the current Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000 or thereabouts — a move that analysts said would boost consumer sentiments besides providing a feel good factor.Ecowrap had said income support needed to be provided in higher amounts for a longer period (at least five years).There, however, were rumours that PM-KISAN fund allocation may be trimmed as the agriculture ministry had sought 20% less funds for the scheme — that pays farmers Rs 6,000 a year — for 2020-21.Speculations on two mega agriculture initiatives were doing the rounds before the Budget. One related to crop diversification and the other on financial assistance to create Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs).FM Sitharaman had promised a Rs 7,000-crore FPO programme in the last budget, saying that the govt expected to help nurture 10,000 such FPOs.There was also hope that the govt this time could cover more types of crops under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), which would help banks manage the risks better.PMFBY currently covers mainly three types of crops — food crops, oilseeds, annual commercial/horticulture crops. These account for only 30% of the total crop loans sanctioned by banks.Setting up efficient global value chains and liberalising land lease markets across all states also featured in the sector's Budget wish list.There has been a gradual but decisive fall in the fortunes of the sector that accounts for just about 14% of the economy but employs about 42% of the country's total workforce. In a country making rapid strides in many other spheres, the agri sector remains more or less mired in legacy issues.The lot of the farmer has improved little, with various states having cumulatively written off a whopping Rs 4.7 lakh crore of farm loans in the past one decade, which is 82 per cent of the industry-level bad loans.