Empowering farmers for unlocking the nation’s economic potential

 Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy. It contributes around 16% of the total GDP and 10% of the country’s total exports. Agriculture and farming are an indispensable part of the country’s progress and development.

Since the growth of a nation is directly connected to the wellbeing of farmers and the productivity of farming, the government and private organisations launch a number of schemes and CSR initiatives for ensuring their welfare. They try their best to ensure the overall progress of the economy through a number of robust schemes and programmes.



 Listed below are some of the most effective ones based on the data of Cross Barriers:

·         Soil Health Card Scheme

Assists the State Governments in issuing Soil Health Cards to all farmers across the country.

·         National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA)

A robust initiative for promoting sustainability in agriculture through appropriate measures for enhancing agriculture productivity mainly in rain-fed areas. It includes a number of schemes such as:

ü  Rainfed Area Development (RAD)

ü  Soil Health Management (SHM)

ü  Sub Mission on Agro Forestry (SMAF)

ü  Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)

ü  Soil and Land Use Survey of India (SLUSI)

ü  National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA)

ü  National Centre of Organic Farming (NCOF)

·         Neem Coated Urea (NCU)

NCU was launched with the major objective of regulating the use of urea, increasing the availability of nitrogen to the crop and reduce the overall cost of fertilizer application.

·         Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY)

With ‘Har Khet Ko Paani’ as its major aim, PMKSY was launched for ensuring proper irrigation supply chain through water sources, distribution network and farm level applications.

·         Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)

PKVY was introduced with an aim of promoting farming in the country by improving soil health for increasing the famer’s net income. 

·         National Agriculture Market (e-NAM)

A robust initiative for setting up a national e-marketing platform for revamping the agriculture markets and introducing the concept of ‘One Nation One Market’. 

·         Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF)

Starting with an initial amount of Rs 5000 crore (Rs 2000 crore for 2018-19 & Rs 3000 crore for 2019-20), MIF was created for encouraging public and private investments in Micro irrigation.

·         Rainfed Area Development Programme (RADP)

As a part of the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), RADP aims at enhancing the agricultural productivity of rainfed areas, controlling the impact of possible crop failure due to drought and providing livelihood support to the farmers.

·         Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)

Under this scheme, the farmer has to pay maximum premium of 2% for Kharif, 1.5% for Rabi food and oilseed crops and 5% for annual commercial/horticultural crops.

·         Livestock insurance Scheme

The Livestock insurance scheme provides protection to the farmers and cattle rearers against any eventual loss of animals due to death.

Certainly, with such robust schemes and CSR initiatives, the government is doing its bit for empowering the farmers and thus, contributing to the overall progress of the Indian economy in a bigger way.

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