PM Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana: One Year On

Introduction

• Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana (PMDDKY) was launched on 11 October 2025 as a six-year initiative (2025-26 to 2030-31).
• It aims to transform agriculture and allied activities in 100 Aspirational Agricultural Districts through focused, district-specific interventions.
• The scheme was approved by the Union Cabinet on 16 July 2025 and draws inspiration from NITI Aayog's Aspirational Districts Programme.

Need and Objectives

Need

• Low agricultural productivity
• Inadequate irrigation
• Limited access to agricultural credit
• Insufficient post-harvest infrastructure

Key Objectives

• Enhance agricultural productivity and promote crop diversification and sustainable agricultural practices.
• Augment post-harvest storage facilities at panchayat and block levels.
• Improve irrigation facilities.
• Facilitate access to short-term and long-term agricultural credit.

Identification of Districts

• 100 districts selected based on three key indicators:

1. Low agricultural productivity
2. Low cropping intensity
3. Low agricultural credit disbursement

• Allocation among States/UTs considered their share of net cropped area and operational holdings, with at least one district from each State.

Convergence Approach

• Integrates 36 Central schemes across 11 Ministries and Departments, along with State schemes and private-sector partnerships.
• Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) leads implementation in coordination with other Ministries/Departments, NITI Aayog, NABARD and States/UTs.

Administrative Structure

District Action Plans (DAPs)

• Prepared based on baseline and diagnostic analyses to identify local agricultural needs.
• Converge relevant Central and State schemes and specify outcome-based targets, annual milestones and scheme-linked interventions.
• Sent to State departments for incorporation into annual action plans, enabling approvals and fund release.
• Progress assessed through 121 indicators across 36 schemes: 74 output indicators and 47 outcome indicators.
• District performance ranked monthly through the PM-DDKY dashboard.

Progress Under PMDDKY (First Year)

• Dashboard operationalised: last week of October 2025; monthly rankings began November 2025.
• DAPs prepared: All 100 PMDDKY districts have prepared DAPs, under implementation.
• Institutional mechanism: Committees constituted at national, State and district levels.
• Data reporting: All 100 districts submitted output-indicator data up to August 2026 and outcome-indicator data for FY 2025-26.
• Central monitoring: Central Nodal Officers regularly review implementation.
• CSR participation: Department of Public Enterprises included adoption of PMDDKY districts for CSR by CPSEs during FY 2026-27 and 2027-28.
• Overall performance: Average score across 100 districts increased from 18.85 in April 2026 to 46.89 in August 2026, an improvement of 28.04 points.

PM-DDKY FPO Sangam

• Held in December 2025.
• Brought together over 72 FPOs from 15 States and 33 PMDDKY districts.
• Themes: natural farming, oilseeds, beekeeping, protected cultivation, micro-irrigation, institutional finance and digital agriculture.

Best Practices

• Gadchiroli, Maharashtra: An FPO with 800 farmer members established a rice processing unit and a 900 MT warehouse for local value addition and better price realisation.
• Jaisalmer, Rajasthan: An FPO with 1,236 members adopted IPM-based cumin cultivation across 2,000 acres and solar-powered sprinkler irrigation across 500 acres.

Significance

• District-centric, convergence-based and outcome-oriented approach to agricultural development.
• Addresses regional imbalances in agricultural infrastructure and productivity.
• Aims to translate improvements into higher and more sustainable farmer incomes.
• Aligns with broader goals of doubling farmer income and sustainable development.

Challenges and Way Forward

• Ensuring effective convergence among multiple schemes and ministries.
• Improving data quality and timely reporting.
• Enhancing access to credit and market linkages.
• Sustaining improvements beyond the scheme period.
• Long-term success depends on coordinated monitoring and translating infrastructure gains into farmer income gains.

Constitutional and Legal Provisions

• Agriculture is a State subject (Entry 14, List II, Seventh Schedule), with the Union playing a supportive and policy-facilitating role.
• Schemes like PMDDKY operate through Centrally Sponsored Schemes and convergence frameworks.

Previous Year Questions

• Prelims 2020: Kisan Credit Card purposes.
• Mains 2018: Core strategies for transformation of aspirational districts.
• Mains 2016: Crop insurance and PMFBY.