Indian Agriculture — UPSC Economy Notes

1. Importance of Agriculture

Agriculture and allied sectors contribute roughly one-sixth of India's GVA but employ about 45% of the workforce, which is why farm incomes remain central to poverty reduction.

Allied activities (livestock, fisheries) are now the fastest-growing part of the farm economy, while crop agriculture grows slowly.

2. Crop Seasons

Kharif: Sown with the onset of the south-west monsoon (June–July), harvested in September–October. Crops: paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, tur (arhar), moong, urad, groundnut, soybean, cotton, jute.

Rabi: Sown in October–December and harvested in March–April; depends on residual soil moisture, winter (western disturbance) rain and irrigation. Crops: wheat, barley, gram, lentil (masur), mustard, rapeseed, safflower.

Zaid: Short summer season between rabi and kharif (March–June) on irrigated land. Crops: watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables, fodder and summer moong.

Some crops do not fit neatly: sugarcane is a 10–18 month crop, and in Tamil Nadu and Kerala rice can be grown in more than one season.

3. Cropping Pattern and Its Shifts

Foodgrains (cereals + pulses) occupy the largest share of gross cropped area; India produced a record over 350 million tonnes of foodgrains in 2024-25.

Green Revolution bias: MSP-backed procurement and canal/tubewell irrigation pushed rice–wheat into Punjab, Haryana and western UP, displacing pulses, millets and oilseeds.

Consequences: falling water tables, stubble burning, soil nutrient imbalance, and dependence on imports of edible oil and pulses.

Diversification drivers: rising demand for fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs and fish with higher incomes; horticulture output now exceeds foodgrain output in tonnage.

Policy nudges: crop diversification programmes in the Green Revolution states, millets promotion (International Year of Millets 2023, 'Shree Anna'), and missions for oilseeds and pulses.

4. Cropping Intensity

Formula: Cropping Intensity = (Gross Cropped Area ÷ Net Sown Area) × 100.

India's net sown area is about 140 million hectares; with multiple cropping, cropping intensity is around 155%. It is highest in irrigated states such as Punjab and West Bengal.

Raising it: irrigation, short-duration varieties, rice-fallow utilisation (pulses/oilseeds after kharif rice in eastern India), and farm mechanisation.

5. Types of Farming Systems

Mixed cropping (two crops sown together in the same field), intercropping (in definite row patterns), crop rotation (cereal followed by legume) and relay cropping (next crop sown before harvest of the current one).

Practice

UPSC-style: 'The rice–wheat cropping system has become unsustainable in north-west India.' Discuss with reference to water and soil, and suggest a diversification strategy.

1. Why Irrigation Matters

Irrigated land yields roughly twice as much as rainfed land, allows a second crop (higher cropping intensity), and protects farmers from monsoon failure.

Rainfed areas (about half of net sown area) grow most of India's pulses, oilseeds, millets and cotton and are home to many poor farmers.

2. Sources of Irrigation

Tubewells and other wells: the largest source (over 60% of net irrigated area); farmer-controlled and reliable, but they deplete aquifers.

Canals: major and medium projects; share has declined because of incomplete projects, poor maintenance and tail-end deprivation.

Tanks: traditional in peninsular India (Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka); revived through programmes such as Mission Kakatiya and Mission Amrit Sarovar.

3. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (2015)

Har Khet Ko Pani: new water sources, repair and renovation of water bodies, command area development.

Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP): completes long-pending major/medium projects; 99 priority projects were taken up from 2016.

Per Drop More Crop: subsidy for drip and sprinkler systems (higher subsidy for small and marginal farmers); a Micro Irrigation Fund of ₹5,000 crore was created with NABARD in 2018-19.

Watershed Development: soil and moisture conservation in rainfed areas (now WDC-PMKSY under the Department of Land Resources).

4. Micro-Irrigation

Drip irrigation can save roughly 30–50% water and raise yields, and allows fertigation (fertiliser through drip).

Adoption is concentrated in a few states (Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu); high upfront cost and small plots limit spread elsewhere.

5. Groundwater Crisis

India is the world's largest user of groundwater. The Central Ground Water Board classifies blocks as safe, semi-critical, critical or over-exploited; Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi extract more than their annual recharge.

Causes: free/flat-rate farm power, MSP-backed paddy and sugarcane, and weak regulation (groundwater is legally tied to land ownership).

Responses: Atal Bhujal Yojana (2020; community-led groundwater management in 7 states), PM-KUSUM solar pumps, Punjab's Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, 2009 (delays paddy transplanting), and separate agricultural power feeders.

Practice

UPSC-style: 'Free electricity to farmers is at the root of India's groundwater crisis.' Critically examine and suggest alternatives such as direct benefit transfer for power.

1. Seeds

Certified/quality seed alone can raise yields by 15–20%. Seed replacement rates are high for hybrids (maize, cotton, vegetables) but low for self-pollinated crops like wheat, paddy and pulses.

Laws: Seeds Act, 1966 (quality of notified seeds), Seeds (Control) Order, 1983, and the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights (PPV&FR) Act, 2001, which lets farmers save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seed (but not branded seed of a protected variety).

GM crops: Bt cotton (2002) is the only GM crop approved for commercial cultivation; GEAC under the Environment Ministry approves GM organisms. Genome-edited (SDN-1/SDN-2) plants without foreign DNA were exempted from GM rules in 2022, and India released two genome-edited rice varieties in 2025.

2. Soil Health

Indian soils are widely deficient in nitrogen, organic carbon and micronutrients (zinc, boron, sulphur); the ideal N:P:K ratio is about 4:2:1, but actual use is heavily skewed towards nitrogen (urea).

Soil Health Card Scheme (2015): soil samples tested for 12 parameters (N, P, K, S, Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, B, pH, EC, organic carbon) with crop-wise fertiliser recommendations; now part of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana.

3. Fertiliser Subsidy

Urea: statutorily controlled MRP (₹242 per 45-kg bag, excluding taxes); the government pays manufacturers the difference between cost and MRP. All urea has been neem-coated since 2015 to reduce diversion to industry.

Nutrient Based Subsidy (2010): for phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilisers such as DAP, MOP and complexes; a fixed subsidy per kg of nutrient is announced each season, and prices are in principle decontrolled.

Distortion: because urea is far cheaper relative to P and K, farmers overuse nitrogen, which degrades soil and pollutes water.

Reforms: DBT in fertilisers (payment to companies after sale recorded on PoS machines, 2018), 'One Nation One Fertiliser' (single 'Bharat' brand, 2022), PM Kisan Samriddhi Kendras as one-stop input shops, and PM-PRANAM (2023) to reward states that cut chemical fertiliser use.

Nano fertilisers: IFFCO launched liquid nano urea (2021) and nano DAP (2023), claimed to cut bulk fertiliser use; field results are still being evaluated.

Import dependence: India imports a large part of its DAP and nearly all of its potash (MOP), so global price spikes (e.g., 2022) raise the subsidy bill sharply.

4. Other Inputs

Farm mechanisation: Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation, Custom Hiring Centres, and 'Namo Drone Didi' (drones to women SHGs for spraying).

Pesticides: regulated under the Insecticides Act, 1968; Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is promoted to reduce chemical use.

Practice

UPSC-style: 'Fertiliser subsidy in India is fiscally costly and ecologically harmful.' Examine the case for bringing urea under the Nutrient Based Subsidy regime.

1. Structure of Rural Credit

Short-term cooperative structure: Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) at village level → District Central Cooperative Banks → State Cooperative Banks.

Long-term: State and Primary Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks; plus scheduled commercial banks and RRBs.

NABARD (1982): apex development bank for agriculture; refinances banks, manages the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) and supervises RRBs and cooperative banks.

Priority Sector Lending: banks must lend 18% of adjusted net bank credit to agriculture, including a sub-target for small and marginal farmers.

2. Kisan Credit Card (KCC)

Introduced in 1998 (on the R.V. Gupta Committee's recommendation) to give farmers a revolving credit limit for crop production, post-harvest needs and household consumption.

Limit is based on the 'scale of finance' for crops grown; collateral-free loans up to ₹2 lakh (RBI, 2025). Extended to animal husbandry and fisheries farmers in 2018-19.

3. Interest Subvention

Under the Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS), short-term crop loans are given at 7% with 1.5% subvention to lenders; farmers who repay on time get a further 3% Prompt Repayment Incentive, so the effective rate is 4%.

The subsidised limit was ₹3 lakh; Budget 2025-26 announced raising it to ₹5 lakh for loans taken through KCC.

4. Reviving PACS

A separate Ministry of Cooperation was created in July 2021.

Computerisation of about 63,000 functional PACS (approved June 2022, outlay about ₹2,516 crore) on a common ERP software linked to NABARD.

Model bye-laws allow PACS to run 25+ businesses: dairy, fisheries, storage, Common Service Centres, PM Kisan Samriddhi Kendras, Jan Aushadhi Kendras and LPG/petrol outlets.

5. Persistent Problems

Many small, marginal and tenant farmers still borrow from moneylenders at high interest because they lack land records and collateral.

Crop loans are sometimes diverted to non-farm uses, and investment (term) credit for farm assets remains low.

Farm loan waivers by states give short-term relief but hurt credit culture and state finances.

Practice

UPSC-style: 'Despite rapid growth in agricultural credit, small and tenant farmers remain dependent on informal lenders.' Analyse the reasons and suggest remedies.

1. Evolution

Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme (1985) → National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS, 1999) → Modified NAIS and Weather Based Crop Insurance (2010s) → PMFBY and RWBCIS (kharif 2016).

2. Key Features of PMFBY

Farmer premium: 2% of sum insured for kharif food and oilseed crops, 1.5% for rabi, 5% for annual commercial and horticultural crops; the balance (actuarial premium) is subsidised.

Cost sharing: Centre and states share the premium subsidy 50:50 (90:10 for north-eastern and Himalayan states).

Risks covered: prevented sowing, standing crop losses (yield-based), post-harvest losses for crops left to dry in the field (up to 14 days), and localised calamities such as hailstorm, landslide and inundation.

Area approach: losses are assessed on a notified area (village/gram panchayat) through crop-cutting experiments; localised risks are assessed farm by farm.

3. The 2020 Revamp and Later Changes

Enrolment made voluntary for all farmers from kharif 2020 (earlier compulsory for loanee farmers), after protests that premiums were deducted without consent.

Central subsidy capped at premium rates of 30% (unirrigated) and 25% (irrigated) of sum insured, so states with very high premiums bear more cost; some states (e.g., Gujarat, Bihar, Telangana at various times) left PMFBY for their own schemes.

Technology: YES-TECH (yield estimation using remote sensing), WINDS (weather information network with automatic weather stations and rain gauges), and a national crop insurance portal; a Fund for Innovation and Technology was created in 2025.

In January 2025 the Union Cabinet continued PMFBY and RWBCIS up to 2025-26 with a total outlay of about ₹69,516 crore.

4. RWBCIS

Pays automatically when measured weather (rainfall, temperature, humidity, wind) deviates from agreed triggers, so claims are faster and need no crop-cutting; but 'basis risk' arises when actual farm loss differs from the weather index.

5. Issues

Delayed claim settlement (often due to late state subsidy payments and disputes over yield data); insurers' profits in good years; low coverage of tenant farmers; and too few crop-cutting experiments.

A 12% annual interest penalty is payable to farmers by insurers for delayed claims, and states face penalties for delayed subsidy release.

Practice

UPSC-style: 'PMFBY has expanded coverage but not farmer trust.' Evaluate, and suggest how technology can make crop insurance faster and fairer.

1. CACP and MSP

CACP (set up in 1965 as the Agricultural Prices Commission, renamed 1985) is an attached office of the Ministry of Agriculture; it is advisory, not statutory. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs announces MSPs.

Coverage: 22 mandated crops — 14 kharif, 6 rabi and 2 commercial (jute and copra); sugarcane gets a Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) fixed under the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966.

Cost concepts: A2 (paid-out costs), A2+FL (plus imputed family labour), C2 (comprehensive cost including rent on own land and interest on owned capital).

Since 2018-19 MSP is fixed at least 1.5 times A2+FL; farmer groups demand 1.5 times C2, as the Swaminathan Commission (2006) suggested.

Other factors CACP considers: demand–supply, domestic and international prices, inter-crop price parity, terms of trade between agriculture and industry, and effect on consumers.

2. Procurement Reality

Effective procurement happens mainly for wheat and paddy (for the public distribution system) and in a few states; for most other crops MSP is only indicative.

Decentralised Procurement (1997-98): states procure and distribute on behalf of the Centre, reducing transport costs.

3. PM-AASHA (2018)

Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan protects pulses, oilseeds and copra growers through: Price Support Scheme (PSS) — physical procurement by NAFED/NCCF; Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS) — paying the gap between MSP and market price (modelled on Madhya Pradesh's Bhavantar); and a pilot private procurement scheme.

In 2024 the Price Stabilisation Fund and Market Intervention Scheme were merged into an integrated PM-AASHA, continued till 2025-26.

4. PM-KISAN (2019)

A Central Sector Scheme paying ₹6,000 a year in three instalments of ₹2,000 directly into the bank accounts of landholding farmer families.

Exclusions: institutional landholders, income-tax payers, serving or retired government officers (except Group D/MTS), professionals and holders of constitutional posts.

Inspired by state schemes such as Telangana's Rythu Bandhu and Odisha's KALIA; e-KYC and land-record seeding are mandatory, which has removed many ineligible beneficiaries.

Limitation: tenant farmers and landless labourers are not covered because eligibility depends on land ownership.

5. The Legal MSP Debate

Farmer unions seek a legal guarantee of MSP for all 22+ crops; critics warn of fiscal cost, market distortion and WTO limits on 'amber box' support, and suggest deficiency payments, stronger FPOs and better markets instead.

Practice

UPSC-style: 'Price support and direct income support are complementary, not substitutes.' Discuss with reference to MSP and PM-KISAN.

1. Marketing Channels

Regulated markets (APMC mandis): auction-based sales with licensed commission agents (arhtiyas); market fee and commission are charged.

Rural periodic markets (haats): about 22,000 Gramin haats; the plan is to upgrade them into Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs) linked to e-NAM.

Direct and private channels: contract farming, private market yards, direct sale to processors and retail chains, and farmer markets such as Andhra Pradesh's Rythu Bazaars.

2. e-NAM (National Agriculture Market)

Launched in April 2016 by the Ministry of Agriculture, implemented by SFAC; more than 1,000 mandis across over 20 states and UTs are integrated.

Features: online bidding, quality assaying, e-payment to farmers, and 'platform of platforms' linking warehouse-based trading and FPOs.

Gaps: most trade is still intra-mandi; inter-mandi and inter-state trade is small due to state laws, logistics and lack of standard grading.

3. Farmer Producer Organisations

FPOs pool small farmers to gain economies of scale in buying inputs and selling produce; registered under the Companies Act (producer companies) or cooperative laws.

The Central Sector Scheme for Formation and Promotion of 10,000 FPOs (2020) gives handholding support, equity grants and a credit guarantee fund; the 10,000 target was reached in February 2025.

Challenges: weak working capital, limited management skills, and dependence on promoting agencies; only a minority are commercially viable.

4. Cooperatives in Marketing

Success stories: Amul (dairy), sugar cooperatives in Maharashtra, and IFFCO/KRIBHCO in fertilisers.

New national multi-state cooperatives (2023): National Cooperative Export Ltd, National Cooperative Organics Ltd and Bharatiya Beej Sahakari Samiti Ltd.

5. Reforms and Infrastructure

Model APLM Act (2017) and the Model Contract Farming Act (2018) remain the templates for states; the three central farm laws of 2020 were repealed in 2021.

Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (2020): ₹1 lakh crore financing facility with 3% interest subvention for post-harvest infrastructure such as warehouses, cold stores and sorting units.

Agmark (grading), commodity derivatives on exchanges, and the electronic negotiable warehouse receipt system help price discovery.

Practice

UPSC-style: 'FPOs can be the missing link between small farmers and markets.' Examine their potential and constraints.

1. Food Corporation of India

Set up in 1965 under the Food Corporations Act, 1964, under the Department of Food and Public Distribution.

Functions: procurement at MSP, storage, movement across states, distribution to states for NFSA and other welfare schemes, and maintaining buffer and strategic stocks.

The Shanta Kumar Committee (2015) found that only about 6% of farmers sell to procurement agencies and recommended handing procurement to states with capacity, focusing FCI on eastern states, and moving to cash transfers in PDS.

2. Buffer Norms

Buffer norms (revised 2015) specify minimum central-pool stocks of rice and wheat for each quarter, including a strategic reserve of 3 million tonnes of wheat and 2 million tonnes of rice.

Actual stocks have often been far above norms, raising carrying costs (storage, interest, losses) and the economic cost of FCI operations.

Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic): FCI sells surplus wheat and rice through e-auctions to traders, flour mills and state agencies (and through Bharat Atta/Bharat Rice outlets) to cool open-market prices.

3. Storage Capacity and Losses

Capacity includes FCI's own and hired godowns, Central and State Warehousing Corporations, private godowns under the PEG (Private Entrepreneurs Guarantee) scheme, steel silos under PPP, and temporary Cover and Plinth (CAP) storage.

The 'World's Largest Grain Storage Plan in the Cooperative Sector' (approved May 2023) aims to build godowns and agri-infrastructure at PACS by converging existing schemes.

4. Warehouse Receipts and WDRA

The Warehousing (Development and Regulation) Act, 2007 set up WDRA (2010) to register warehouses and make warehouse receipts negotiable, so farmers can take bank loans against stored produce instead of selling at harvest-time low prices.

Electronic Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (e-NWRs) are issued through repositories, reducing fraud and enabling trade on e-NAM and commodity exchanges.

5. Cold Chain and Perishables

Fruits, vegetables, milk, meat and fish suffer large post-harvest losses because of gaps in pack-houses, reefer transport and ripening chambers; most cold stores are single-commodity (potato) and located in UP and West Bengal.

Operation Greens (2018): launched for Tomato, Onion and Potato (TOP) to stabilise prices through FPO-led value chains and storage; extended to 22 perishables in 2021-22.

The Integrated Cold Chain scheme under PM Kisan SAMPADA Yojana and the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund finance cold storage and logistics.

Practice

UPSC-style: 'India's food management system keeps too much grain, too long, at too high a cost.' Discuss in the light of buffer norms and the Shanta Kumar Committee.

1. Dimensions of Food Security (FAO)

Availability (production, stocks, imports), Access (income and prices), Utilisation (nutrition, clean water, health) and Stability (over time and shocks).

India is now self-sufficient in cereals and a major rice exporter, but faces challenges of hidden hunger (micronutrient deficiency), child stunting and anaemia.

2. Evolution of PDS

Universal PDS (from the 1940s–60s) → Revamped PDS (1992, for difficult areas) → Targeted PDS (1997) with APL/BPL categories → Antyodaya Anna Yojana (2000) for the poorest → NFSA (2013).

3. Key Provisions of NFSA, 2013

Coverage: up to 75% rural and 50% urban population (about two-thirds overall), identified by states using criteria; about 81 crore beneficiaries.

Entitlement: Priority Households get 5 kg per person per month; Antyodaya (AAY) households get 35 kg per household per month. Issue prices were ₹3/2/1 per kg for rice/wheat/coarse grains, now zero under PMGKAY.

Nutrition support: pregnant women and lactating mothers get maternity benefit of at least ₹6,000 (implemented through PM Matru Vandana Yojana) and meals; children get meals through anganwadis (6 months–6 years) and PM POSHAN (school children).

Women's empowerment: the eldest woman (18+) of the household is the head for issue of the ration card.

Grievance redress: District Grievance Redressal Officers, State Food Commissions, social audits and vigilance committees; food security allowance if grain is not supplied.

4. PMGKAY

Started in April 2020 as additional free grain during COVID-19; from 1 January 2023 it was merged with NFSA to make NFSA grain free, and from 1 January 2024 free grain was extended for five years.

5. Technology Reforms

End-to-end computerisation, Aadhaar seeding of ration cards, and ePoS devices at fair price shops for biometric authentication have cut leakages and removed duplicate cards.

One Nation One Ration Card (2019): intra- and inter-state portability, so migrant workers can draw rations anywhere; it covers all 36 states and UTs since 2022. The 'Mera Ration' app supports it.

Rice fortification: fortified rice (iron, folic acid, vitamin B12) is supplied through PDS, ICDS and PM POSHAN; universal coverage was achieved by March 2024 and continued till 2028.

6. Issues

Exclusion errors (coverage still based on the 2011 Census population), cereal-centric diet with little protein or pulses, authentication failures for the elderly, and the large food subsidy bill.

Practice

UPSC-style: 'India has moved from food security to nutrition security as the policy challenge.' Discuss the role of PDS reform in this transition.

1. Economic Importance

Livestock contributes nearly a third of the GVA of agriculture and allied sectors and has grown faster than crop agriculture; ownership is more equal than landholding.

Milk is India's largest agricultural commodity by value, larger than rice and wheat combined in many estimates.

Milk production was about 239 million tonnes in 2023-24, with per capita availability of about 471 grams per day (Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics).

The 20th Livestock Census (2019) counted about 536 million livestock; the 21st census began in 2024.

2. NDDB and Operation Flood

National Dairy Development Board: set up in 1965 at Anand (Gujarat) at the initiative of Lal Bahadur Shastri, with Dr Verghese Kurien as chairman; made a statutory body by the NDDB Act, 1987.

Operation Flood (1970–1996), the 'White Revolution', linked village milk cooperatives to urban markets through a national milk grid on the Anand pattern (village society → district union → state federation).

3. Rashtriya Gokul Mission (2014)

Aims to develop and conserve indigenous bovine breeds (Gir, Sahiwal, Red Sindhi, Tharparkar, etc.) and raise productivity through breed improvement.

Tools: Nationwide Artificial Insemination Programme, sex-sorted semen (to produce mostly female calves), IVF and embryo transfer, Gokul Grams and National Kamdhenu Breeding Centres, and 'MAITRIs' (multi-purpose AI technicians in rural India).

4. Other Schemes

National Animal Disease Control Programme (2019): vaccination of cattle and buffaloes against foot-and-mouth disease and brucellosis.

Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (2020): interest subvention for dairy processing, meat processing and animal feed plants.

National Livestock Mission: entrepreneurship in poultry, sheep, goat and piggery, and fodder development; KCC extended to livestock farmers.

5. Challenges

Low yield per animal compared with global averages, shortage of green and dry fodder, animal diseases (e.g., lumpy skin disease in 2022), stray cattle problems, and limited veterinary services.

Methane emissions from enteric fermentation link livestock to climate policy; better feed and breeds reduce emissions per litre of milk.

Practice

UPSC-style: 'Livestock can be a more effective tool than crop agriculture for raising the incomes of landless and marginal households.' Discuss.

1. Structure of the Sector

Inland fisheries and aquaculture (ponds, tanks, reservoirs, rivers) now provide about three-quarters of total fish output; Andhra Pradesh is the largest producer.

Marine fisheries: India has a coastline of over 11,000 km (revised estimate) and an Exclusive Economic Zone of about 2 million sq km; marine catch has stagnated near sustainable limits in the near-shore zone.

Total fish production was about 175 lakh tonnes in 2022-23, growing much faster than crop agriculture over the past decade.

Exports: frozen shrimp (mainly farmed vannamei) is the largest seafood export item; the USA, China, the EU and South-East Asia are key markets.

2. Institutions

A separate Department of Fisheries was created in 2019 under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.

The National Fisheries Development Board (2006, Hyderabad) implements many schemes; MPEDA (Kochi) promotes seafood exports.

3. Blue Revolution (2015-16)

An umbrella scheme for integrated development and management of fisheries, merging earlier schemes on inland, marine and infrastructure development.

Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF, 2018-19): about ₹7,522 crore for fishing harbours, landing centres and cold chains.

4. PMMSY (2020)

Announced under the Atmanirbhar Bharat package with an outlay of ₹20,050 crore for 2020-21 to 2024-25 — the largest investment ever in Indian fisheries.

Two components: a Central Sector Scheme and a Centrally Sponsored Scheme; focus on production and productivity, post-harvest infrastructure, traceability, fishers' welfare (insurance, livelihood support during fishing bans) and new areas such as seaweed, ornamental fish and cage culture.

PM Matsya Kisan Samridhi Sah-Yojana (2024): a sub-scheme under PMMSY (about ₹6,000 crore) to formalise the sector through a National Fisheries Digital Platform, aquaculture insurance and support to micro-enterprises.

KCC has been extended to fishers and fish farmers since 2018-19.

5. Challenges

Overfishing and bottom trawling in coastal waters, conflicts with Sri Lanka in the Palk Bay, pollution and mangrove loss, disease outbreaks in shrimp farms, and high post-harvest losses.

WTO negotiations on fisheries subsidies (the 2022 agreement on illegal fishing and overfished stocks) affect India's support to small fishers; India seeks special treatment for artisanal fishing.

Practice

UPSC-style: 'Inland aquaculture, not marine capture, is the future of India's fisheries.' Discuss with reference to PMMSY and sustainability.

1. Crop Missions

National Food Security Mission (2007-08): raise production of rice, wheat and pulses (later coarse cereals, nutri-cereals and commercial crops) through area expansion and productivity in low-yield districts; now part of the Krishonnati Yojana.

Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH, 2014-15): fruits, vegetables, spices, flowers, bamboo, coconut and cashew; includes the National Horticulture Mission and the Horticulture Mission for North East and Himalayan States.

2. Edible Oils and Pulses

India imports more than half of its edible oil requirement (palm, soybean, sunflower oil), making it one of the world's largest importers.

National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (2021): expands oil palm cultivation, especially in the North-East and Andaman & Nicobar, with a viability price for fresh fruit bunches.

National Mission on Edible Oils – Oilseeds (October 2024): outlay about ₹10,103 crore for 2024-25 to 2030-31, to raise primary oilseed production (mustard, groundnut, soybean, sunflower, sesame) through better seeds and rice-fallow use.

Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses: a six-year mission (2025-26 to 2030-31) announced in Budget 2025-26, focusing on tur, urad and masur, with assured procurement by NAFED and NCCF.

PM Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana (2025): convergence of existing schemes in 100 districts with low productivity, moderate cropping intensity and below-average credit access.

3. Digital Agriculture Mission (September 2024)

Outlay about ₹2,817 crore. Builds AgriStack, a digital public infrastructure with three registries: Farmers' Registry (a digital 'Kisan ID' linked to land records), Geo-referenced village maps and the Crop Sown Registry (digital crop survey).

Also the Krishi Decision Support System (remote sensing, weather, soil data) and a soil profile map; uses include targeted benefits, crop insurance, credit and advisories.

Other tools: Kisan Rin Portal, Kisan Call Centres (Kisan Sarathi), and drones for spraying and crop assessment (Namo Drone Didi).

4. Natural and Organic Farming

National Mission on Natural Farming (November 2024): outlay about ₹2,481 crore; aims to reach 1 crore farmers and 7.5 lakh hectares through clusters, bio-input resource centres and trained 'Krishi Sakhis'.

Natural farming relies on on-farm inputs such as jeevamrit and beejamrit (cow dung and urine based), mulching and multi-cropping; Andhra Pradesh's community-managed natural farming is the largest programme.

Organic farming schemes: Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (2015) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region; Sikkim became the first fully organic state in 2016.

Debate: supporters cite lower costs and soil health; critics, citing Sri Lanka's 2021 crisis after an abrupt fertiliser ban, warn of yield losses if adopted without evidence and transition support.

Practice

UPSC-style: 'Digital public infrastructure like AgriStack can transform service delivery to farmers.' Discuss its potential and the concerns about data privacy and exclusion.