Agriculture spending” is not just scattered — it’s often floating in ministries with no roots in the soil. Dig into the fine print, the head-wise allocation tables, and you’ll find a peculiar truth: 24 ministries are dipping their hands in the “agriculture pool.” Some of them haven’t seen a farm since Independence.
Half of these ministries have no grassroots presence, no field staff, no agri-linked institutional machinery. So how does the money get spent? Does it quietly expire and go back to the treasury? Or worse — does it get diverted into other programs with zero relevance to farmers, just to show “utilization”? Meanwhile, media debates farm laws, MSP slogans, or who said what on TV — and misses the real question: Where is the agri money going? And why are so-called farmer leaders chasing optics when the real game is in these silent budgets?
If we want real reform, we need to stop farming outrage — and start auditing where the real seeds (of funding) are being sown.
