Achievers IAS

Development in agriculture and allied sectors in 100 districts

• The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi approved the “Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana” for a period of six years, beginning with 2025-26 to cover 100 districts.
• Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana draws inspiration from NITI Aayog’s Aspirational District Programme and first of its kind focusing exclusively on agriculture and allied sectors.
• The Scheme aims to enhance agricultural productivity, increase adoption of crop diversification and sustainable agricultural practices, augment post-harvest storage at the panchayat and block levels, improve irrigation facilities and facilitate availability of long-term and short-term credit.
• It is in pursuance of Budget announcement for 2025-26 to develop 100 districts under “Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana”.
• The Scheme will be implemented through convergence of 36 existing schemes across 11 Departments, other State schemes and local partnerships with the private sector.
•  100 districts will be identified based on three key indicators of low productivity, low cropping intensity, and less credit disbursement.
• The number of districts in each state/UT will be based on the share of Net Cropped Area and operational holdings. However, a minimum of 1 district will be selected from each state.
• Committees will be formed at District, State and National level for effective planning, implementation and monitoring of the Scheme.
• A District Agriculture and Allied Activities Plan will be finalized by the District Dhan Dhaanya Samiti, which will also have progressive farmers as members.
• The District Plans will be aligned to the national goals of crop diversification, conservation of water and soil health, self-sufficiency in agriculture and allied sectors as well as expansion of natural and organic farming.
• Progress of the Scheme in each Dhan-Dhaanya district will be monitored on 117 key Performance Indicators through a dashboard on monthly basis.
• NITI will also review and guide the district plans. Besides Central Nodal Officers appointed for each district will also review the scheme on a regular basis.
• As the targeted outcomes in these 100 districts will improve, the overall average against key performance indicators will rise for the country.
• The scheme will result in higher productivity, value addition in agriculture and allied sector, local livelihood creation and hence increase domestic production and achieving self-reliance (Atmanirbhar Bharat).
• As the indicators of these 100 districts improve, the national indicators will automatically show an upward trajectory.