Government Schemes for Agriculture
Government Schemes for Agriculture
Introduction
Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy, providing livelihoods to over 50% of the population and contributing significantly to GDP and food security. Given its importance, the Government of India has introduced several schemes to support farmers, improve productivity, and ensure sustainability. The schemes are mainly classified into two: Central Sector Schemes and Centrally Sponsored Schemes. The difference between the two comes in the manner of funding and implementation. Central Sector Schemes are 100% funded by the Central government and are implemented by the Central government. Centrally Sponsored Schemes, the funding is shared by the state governments and are implemented by the state governments.
Central Sector Schemes
- Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)
- Pradhan Mantri Kisan MaanDhan Yojana (PM-KMY)
- Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)
- Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS)
- Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF)
- Formation & Promotion of new 10,000 FPOs
- National beekeeping and Honey Mission (NBHM)
- Market Intervention Scheme and Price support Scheme (MIS-PSS)
- Namo Drone Didi
Centrally Sponsored Schemes
- Rastriya Krishi Vikas Yojana-Detailed Project Report based schemes (RKVY- DPR)
- Soil Health Card (SHC)
- Rainfed Area Development (RAD)
- Per Drop More Crop (PDMC)
- Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF)
- Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)
- Sub-Mission on Agriculture Mechanization (SMAM)
- Crop Residue Management
- Agro-forestry
- National Food Security Mission (NFSM)
- Sub-Mission on Seed and Planting Material (SMSP)
- National Mission on Edible Oils (NMEO)-Oil Palm
- Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH)
- National Bamboo Mission (NBM)
- Integrated Scheme for Agriculture Marketing (ISAM)
- Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region
- Sub-Mission on Agriculture Extension (SMAE)
- Digital Agriculture
Challenges in Agriculture Sector
- Small & Marginal Landholdings – Over 86% of Indian farmers have small landholdings, making mechanization and large-scale production difficult.
- Inadequate Infrastructure – Poor rural roads, cold storage facilities, and irrigation networks hinder productivity.
- Climate Change & Water Scarcity – Unpredictable monsoons, droughts, and floods affect crop yields.
- Low Adoption of Technology – Many farmers lack access to modern equipment, precision farming tools, and digital platforms.
- Agricultural Credit Issues – High dependence on informal credit (moneylenders) leads to farmer distress.
- Market Fluctuations & Price Instability – Farmers often face losses due to low market prices and lack of direct market access.
- Weak Implementation of Policies – Many schemes suffer from bureaucratic delays, corruption, and mismanagement at the state level.
Way ahead to strengthen Agriculture Sector
- Strengthening Irrigation & Water Management – Encouragement to improve irrigation facility and to promote water conservation methods such as rain water harvesting, etc
- Digital and technological adoption – introduction to smart farming techniques, soil sample analysis, drone monitoring, etc
- Crop insurance and access to credit – to improve the access to the credit to purchase the farm related inputs and to provide the crop insurance in case of unreasonable crop failure.
- Farmer Producer Organizations – encouragement to establish more FPOs as they provide better access to market and good return for the produce to the small farmers.
- Improving agricultural infrastructure – development of the agricultural infrastructure such as storage depots, cold supply chain, etc should be improved to increase the shelf life of the products.
- Minimum Selling Price (MSP) – MSP should be decided for all the crops to provide the financial incentive and to protect the earning capacity of the farmers.
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