Cabinet clears ₹24,000 cr for PM Dhan Dhaanya Yojana to boost farm output

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana (PMDDKY), an ambitious scheme which seeks to lift the agriculture profile of 100 districts with an annual outlay of ₹24,000 crore.

 

The funds will be provided through convergence of schemes.

 

The 100-odd districts will be selected on the basis of three major criteria which are low crop productivity, moderate crop density and below average credit penetration, the Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters after the cabinet meeting.

 

At least one district will be selected from each state for the scheme, and the aim would be to bring their crop yields, credit penetration and other matrices to national levels.

   

The basic objective of the programme is to enhance agricultural productivity, increase adoption of crop diversification, augment post-harvest storage at panchayat and block levels and facilitate availability of long-term and short-term credit.

 

There won’t be any additional allocation for PMDDKY and funds for the programme will be provided through convergence of 36 existing schemes spread across 11 ministries. These include schemes from ministries of agriculture, food, animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries, finance, rural development, cooperation, irrigation among others.

 

The programme has been modelled on the lines of the aspirational districts programme of NITI Aayog and was announced in the 2025-26 Union Budget. 

 

It will be run for six years starting financial year 2025-26, and is projected to help around 17 million farmers.

 

Later, union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that by the end of this month the 100 districts would be identified and the programme would formally start from October.

 

He said there would be a committee of ministers to monitor the scheme at the national level, while there would be a panel of secretaries drawn from different departments to review the programme.

 

Abhishek Jain, Fellow and Director - Green Economy and Impact Innovations, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) said that the district selection for the scheme could improve by using annual net agricultural income per hectare

 

Vaishnaw, meanwhile, said that each selected district will devise a district-wise agriculture and allied activities plan. The plan will be devised by a committee under the District Collector.

 

The panel will also undertake extensive consultation, understand the cropping pattern and allied activities under the agro-climatic conditions. There will be committees at the state levels and also a national level monitoring committee to regularly monitor the programme.

 

NITI Aayog will provide the overall guidance and handholding of the scheme, while Central and state agriculture universities will be assigned to each district as technical knowledge partner. 

Need to devise policy to encourage crop diversification: Shivraj 

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that crop diversification will not happen just by distributing seeds, instead the import-export policy should be devised in such a way thatit benefits farmers then they will diversify. He was speaking atthe foundation day function of ICAR. Chouhan said that wherever there is a possibility of fake fertilisers and seeds,they should immediately.