Government merges 36 schemes to float farm programme
The scheme was announced in the Budget earlier this year. Talking to reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the Centre has merged 36 schemes of 11 Ministries into the PMDDKY, which will have an outlay of ₹24,000 crore per year for six years beginning 2025-26. 'This scheme will help 1.7 crore farmers,' he said.
Also read | Union Budget 2025: Schemes announced for farmers, middle class and students
A release said the scheme also aims to augment post-harvest storage at the panchayat and block levels, improve irrigation facilities, and facilitate the availability of long-term and short-term credit. 'The scheme will be implemented through the convergence of 36 existing schemes across 11 Departments, other State schemes, and local partnerships with the private sector... 100 districts will be identified based on three key indicators of low productivity, low cropping intensity, and less credit disbursement. The number of districts in each State/Union Territory will be based on the share of Net Cropped Area and operational holdings. However, a minimum of one district will be selected from each State,' the release added.
The PMDDKY is modelled on the 'Aspirational District Programme' of the Centre. Mr. Vaishnaw said the 'first-of-its-kind' scheme will focus exclusively on agriculture and allied sectors.
Committees for effective planning, implementation and monitoring of the scheme will be formed at district, State and national levels. 'A District Agriculture and Allied Activities Plan will be finalised by the District Dhan Dhaanya Samiti, which will also have progressive farmers as members. The district's plans will be aligned to the national goals of crop diversification, conservation of water and soil health, and self-sufficiency in agriculture and allied sectors, as well as expansion of natural and organic farming,' the release said, adding that the scheme's progress will be monitored on a monthly basis.
Also read | Agricultural agenda must move from food security to farmer prosperity: Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar
The Government hoped that the scheme would result in higher productivity, value addition in agriculture and allied sectors, and local livelihood creation, and help increase domestic production and achieve self-reliance.
Abhishek Jain, Fellow and Director, Green Economy and Impact Innovations, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) said the scheme is a significant step toward boosting agricultural performance in India's under-performing districts by emphasising not only productivity but also resilience through crop diversification, allied activities, value addition, soil health, and water‐use efficiency.
'However, district selection could be improved by using annual net agricultural income per hectare,' he said, adding that the scheme should not focus on low-credit disbursement as an indicator for district selection. 'A resilient agriculture system should not be dependent on credit. Instead, as we expand and diversify income streams for farmers via allied and value-added activities, and as we mainstream more sustainable agriculture practices, the reliance on external credit to fund cultivation cycles should come down, while still enhancing incomes for the farmers,' he said.
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