Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched two major schemes for the agriculture sector with a combined outlay of Rs 35,440 crore, including a pulses mission aimed at reducing import dependency.
The event coincided with the birth anniversary of socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan.
He also inaugurated projects valued at over Rs 5,450 crore in the agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, and food processing sectors, while laying the foundation stone for additional projects worth around Rs 815 crore.
The ‘Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses’, with an outlay of Rs 11,440 crore, aims at increasing pulses production from the current 252.38 lakh tonne to 350 lakh tonne by the 2030-31 crop year and reducing the country’s import dependency.
The Rs 24,000-crore ‘Pradhan Mantri Dhan Dhaanya Krishi Yojana’ aims to transform 100 low-performing agri-districts. The scheme will focus on enhancing productivity, promoting crop diversification, improving irrigation and storage, and ensuring credit access in the select 100 districts.
The two schemes, already approved by the Cabinet, will be implemented from the upcoming rabi (winter) season till 2030-31.
Among the projects inaugurated are artificial insemination training centres in Bengaluru and Jammu and Kashmir, centres of excellence at Amreli and Banas, an IVF lab in Assam under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission, milk powder plants at Mehsana, Indore, and Bhilwara, and a fish feed plant under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana at Tezpur.
During the programme, Modi distributed certificates to farmers certified under the National Mission for Natural Farming, MAITRI technicians, and Primary Agriculture Cooperative Credit Societies (PACS) converted to Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samriddhi Kendras (PMKSKs) and Common Service Centres (CSCs).
The event marked important milestones achieved under government initiatives, including 50 lakh farmer memberships in 10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), of which 1,100 FPOs recorded an annual turnover of over Rs 1 crore in 2024-25.
Other achievements include the certification of 50,000 farmers under the National Mission for Natural Farming, certification of 38,000 MAITRIs (Multi-Purpose AI Technicians in Rural India), sanction and operationalisation of over 10,000 multipurpose and e-PACS for computerisation, and the formation and strengthening of PACS, dairy, and fishery cooperative societies.
Modi also interacted with farmers engaged in pulses cultivation who have benefitted from various government schemes aimed at establishing a value chain-based approach in agriculture, animal husbandry, and fisheries.
Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, and Minister of State for Agriculture Bhagirath Choudhary were present at the event.