Green Revolution Krishonnati Yojana

• 16 Jan 2019

Why in News?

• Recently Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its approval for the Umbrella Scheme, "Green Revolution – Krishonnati Yojana".
• The scheme was approved beyond the 12^th five year plan for the period from 2017-18 to 2019-20.

Krishonnati Yojana

• The government of India introduced the green revolution Krishonnati Yojana in 2005 to boost the agriculture sector.
• Government through the scheme plans to develop the agriculture and allied sector in a holistic & scientific manner to increase the income of farmer.
• The scheme looks to enhance agricultural production, productivity and better returns on produce.

It comprises of 11 schemes and mission under a single umbrella scheme:

1. Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH)

• It aims to promote holistic growth of horticulture sector; to enhance horticulture production, improve nutritional security and income support to farm Households.

2. National Food Security Mission (NFSM)

• It aims to increase production of rice, wheat, pulses, coarse cereals and commercial crops, through area expansion and productivity enhancement.
• It will work toward restoring soil fertility and productivity at the individual farm level and enhancing farm level economy.
• It further aims to augment the availability of vegetable oils and to reduce the import of edible oils.

3. National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA)

• NMSA aims at promoting sustainable agriculture practices best suitable to the specific agro-ecology focusing on integrated farming, appropriate soil health management and synergizing resource conservation technology.

4. Submission on Agriculture Extension (SMAE)

• SMAE aims at achieving food and nutritional security and socio-economic empowerment of farmers.
• To forge effective linkages and synergy amongst various stake-holders and to promote pervasive and innovative use of electronic / print media, inter-personal communication and ICT tools, etc.

5. Sub-Mission on Seeds and Planting Material (SMSP)

• SMSP aims to increase production of certified/quality seed
• Strengthen the seed multiplication chain and modernizing infrastructure for seed production, storage, certification and quality etc.
• Promoting new technologies and methodologies in seed production, processing, testing etc.,

6. Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM)

• SMAM aims to increase the reach of farm mechanization to small and marginal farmers and to the regions where availability of farm power is low.
• It will promote ‘Custom Hiring Centers’ to offset the adverse economies of scale arising due to small landholding and high cost of individual ownership.
• It will create hubs for hi-tech and high value farm equipment and create awareness among stakeholders through demonstration and capacity building activities.

7. Sub-Mission on Plant Protection and Plan Quarantine (SMPPQ)

• SMPPQ aims to minimize loss to quality and yield of agricultural crops from the ravages of insect pests, diseases, weeds, nematodes, rodents, etc.
• It will ensure agricultural bio-security from the incursions and spread of alien species facilitating exports of Indian agricultural commodities to global markets.
• Promote good agricultural practices, particularly with respect to plant protection strategies and strategies.

8. Integrated Scheme on Agriculture Census, Economics and Statistics (ISACES)

• It aims to undertake the agriculture census, study of the cost of cultivation of principal crops, to undertake research studies on agro-economic problems of the country.
• It seeks to improve agricultural statistics methodology and create a hierarchical information system on crop condition and crop production from sowing to harvest.

9. Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Cooperation (ISAC)

• It aims to provide financial assistance for improving the economic conditions of cooperatives, remove regional imbalances and to speed up cooperative development.
• The scheme will particularly help cotton growers fetch remunerative price for their produce through value addition besides ensuring supply of quality yarn at reasonable rates to the decentralized weavers.

10. Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Marketing (ISAM)

• ISAM aims to develop agricultural marketing infrastructure;
• Promote innovative and latest technologies and competitive alternatives in agriculture marketing infrastructure.
• Provide infrastructure facilities for grading, standardization and quality certification of agricultural produce.
• It aims to establish a nationwide marketing information network and integrate markets through a common online market platform to facilitate pan-India trade in agricultural commodities, etc.

11. National e-Governance Plan in Agriculture (NeGP-A)

• It aims to bring farmer centricity & service orientation to the programs.
• Improving access of farmers to information & services throughout crop-cycle.
• It looks to enhance efficiency & effectiveness of programs by giving timely and relevant information to the farmers for increasing their agriculture productivity.

Benefits of the Scheme

• The scheme will help achieve food security in the nation by providing impetus to the production of rice, wheat, pulses and coarse grains.
• It will help in identifying the best sustainable agricultural practices most suitable to specific agro-ecological climate focusing on integrated farming.
• The scheme through its various missions will help realize the government’s vision of doubling farmer’s income by 2022.
• Agrarian infrastructure like warehousing facilities, storehouses, watershed development, rural electrification, roads, markets etc will get a push through the scheme.

Challenges in the Scheme

• Affordability of technology remains a huge constraint due to small and marginal landholding amongst the farmers.
• Agriculture research in the country remains skewed due to inadequate resources, multiple regulations and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).
• Lack of non-farms employment opportunities has resulted in excessive dependence on agriculture.
• Inability to acquire land for setting up markets remains a huge challenge due to restrictions on land leasing and land acquisition.

Way Forward

• There is a need for progressive agricultural marketing reforms such as setting up of markets in the private sector, farmer-consumer markets, e-trading etc.
• Government of India should come up with a coherent and stable agricultural export policy, ideally with a five to ten-year time horizon.
• Several breakthroughs have potential for quickly doubling farmers’ income such as ZBNF (Zero Budget Natural Farming), herbal inputs that improve soil quality and make plants more pest resistant etc.
• India needs to accelerate growth in the manufacturing, services and exports sectors to wean labour away from agriculture resulting in higher productivity and income for farmer.