New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched two major agriculture sector schemes worth a combined ₹35,440 crore, including a new pulses mission aimed at achieving self-reliance and reducing import dependency. The launch coincided with the birth anniversary of socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan.
Alongside, the Prime Minister inaugurated projects worth over ₹5,450 crore and laid foundation stones for additional initiatives valued at ₹815 crore across agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, and food processing sectors.
The ‘Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses’, with an outlay of ₹11,440 crore, seeks to raise pulses production from 252.38 lakh tonnes to 350 lakh tonnes by the 2030–31 crop year, thereby reducing imports.
The second initiative, the ₹24,000-crore ‘Pradhan Mantri Dhan Dhaanya Krishi Yojana’, targets 100 low-performing agricultural districts. The scheme will focus on boosting productivity, promoting crop diversification, improving irrigation and storage facilities, and ensuring better credit access.
Both schemes, recently approved by the Cabinet, will be implemented from the upcoming rabi (winter) season through to 2030–31.
Among the newly inaugurated projects are artificial insemination training centres in Bengaluru and Jammu & Kashmir, centres of excellence in Amreli and Banas, an IVF lab in Assam under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission, milk powder plants in Mehsana, Indore, and Bhilwara, and a fish feed plant at Tezpur under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana.
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) that have been transformed into Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samriddhi Kendras (PMKSKs) and Common Service Centres (CSCs).
The event also highlighted key milestones, including 50 lakh farmers enrolled in 10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs)—with 1,100 FPOs recording an annual turnover exceeding ₹1 crore in 2024–25.
Other notable achievements include certification of 50,000 farmers under natural farming, 38,000 MAITRI technicians, and the operationalisation of over 10,000 multipurpose and e-PACS units as part of the cooperative digitalisation drive.
The Prime Minister also interacted with pulses farmers benefiting from government initiatives promoting a value chain–based approach across agriculture, animal husbandry, and fisheries.
The event was attended by Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, and Minister of State for Agriculture Bhagirath Choudhary.
