Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana & Key Agriculture Interventions Announced in Union Budget 2025-26

IN NEWS: Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana & Key Agriculture Interventions Announced in Union Budget 2025-26

ANALYSIS

Launched on the model of the Aspirational Districts Programme.
Targets 100 low-productivity districts with moderate crop intensity and below-average credit penetration.
Focus areas include:
- Enhancing agricultural productivity.
- Promoting crop diversification and sustainable farming.
- Improving post-harvest storage at panchayat/block levels.
- Strengthening irrigation facilities.
- Facilitating long- and short-term agricultural credit availability.
Expected beneficiaries: 1.7 crore farmers.
Implemented through convergence of existing schemes and specialized interventions.

Multi-sectoral programme implemented with states to address under-employment in agriculture.
Core focus areas: skilling, investment, technology adoption, and boosting rural economic vibrancy.
Objective: enable migration by choice, not compulsion.
Target groups:
- Rural women
- Young farmers & rural youth
- Marginal and small farmers
- Landless families
Expected outcomes:
- Enterprise development
- Employment generation
- Improved warehousing and modernized agriculture
Phase-1 coverage: 100 developing agri-districts.
Support to be drawn from global best practices and multilateral development banks.

Aim: Achieve long-term self-reliance in pulses, particularly Tur, Urad, Masoor.
Key thrust areas:
- Development & commercialization of climate-resilient seeds.
- Increasing protein content and productivity.
- Strengthening post-harvest storage systems.
- Assuring remunerative prices to farmers.
NAFED and NCCF will procure as much quantity of these pulses as farmers offer for the next 4 years (subject to registration and agreements).

Objective: Strengthen production, supply chains, processing, and ensure remunerative prices.
Rationale: Rising nutritional awareness and increasing income-driven consumption of vegetables, fruits, and Shree-Anna.
To be implemented in partnership with states.
Will incorporate institutional frameworks, participation of FPOs and cooperatives, and supply chain modernization.

Public Sector Banks to create a Grameen Credit Score framework.
Purpose: Improve access to formal credit for SHG members and the rural population.
Designed to enable better credit assessment and inclusion in rural financial systems.

Aspirational Districts Programme: Launched in 2018 to improve governance and socio-economic outcomes in lagging districts.
NAFED: Apex organization for procurement under Price Support Scheme.
NCCF: Central cooperative federation involved in procurement and distribution of essential commodities.
FPOs: Farmer Producer Organizations help in collective marketing, credit access, and value chain integration.