Shivraj Chouhan asks states to ensure full saturation of farm schemes

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday asked states to achieve 100 per cent saturation under the Digital Agriculture Mission and the Pulses Self-Reliance Mission, stressing that scheme benefits must reflect “in the fields and farmers’ pockets”, not merely in official reports.

Addressing a national conference at Pusa, Chouhan said state governments that executed the schemes with seriousness exceeded 100 per cent of their targets, while others lagged. He asked all states to work within committed timelines.

The minister said the Farmer ID, under which payments are credited directly to farmers’ bank accounts, is a key transparency measure.

Citing Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, he said the Centre had already released funds to generate Farmer IDs and conduct camps, but cautioned that meeting the one-month turnaround for IDs would require camps to run without fund diversion.

According to data shared at the conference, 10.41 crore Farmer IDs have been generated so far across 26 states and Union Territories, covering 84.68 per cent of PM-KISAN beneficiaries and about 77 per cent of operational landholdings.

Land records, crop survey

On digital land records, Chouhan termed map integration and data verification the “backbone” of the mission, while acknowledging accuracy gaps in some areas due to crop and field-level variations.

Geo-referencing of village maps has been completed for 5.9 lakh villages, or 93.05 per cent of identified villages, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement.

Digital Crop Survey coverage has been scaled up from 290 districts in 2024-25 to 650 districts by Rabi 2025-26, with a target of 692 districts by Kharif 2026-27.

Area under the survey is set to rise from 9.18 crore hectares in 2025-26 to 13.4 crore hectares in the coming Kharif season against 3.87 crore hectares in 2024-25.

Pulses production up, imports down

On the pulses front, Chouhan said rising acreage and output in some regions last year need to be replicated nationally to cut import dependence, while stressing that production gains alone will not help farmers without adequate processing, storage and market linkages.

Pulses production rose to 274.09 lakh tonnes in 2025-26 from 256.83 lakh tonnes in 2024-25, while the import quantity correspondingly eased to 59.64 lakh tonnes from 72.56 lakh tonnes, as per government data.

Area under pulses cultivation expanded to 286.46 lakh hectares from 277.20 lakh hectares, and productivity improved to 957 kg/hectare from 926 kg/hectare over the same period.

To strengthen the value chain, the government has set a target of setting up 528 processing units across states by 2026-27 under the pulses mission.

Chouhan directed officials to accelerate the establishment of processing units, cold storage, and market linkages through public-private partnerships, and ensure timely input supply and payments to avoid losses to farmers during sowing, harvesting, and sales.

The conference was attended by Union Minister of State for Agriculture Bhagirath Choudhary, Haryana Agriculture Minister Shyam Singh Rana, Assam Minister Pijush Hazarika, Arunachal Pradesh Minister Gabriel Denwang Wangsu, Nagaland Minister Mhathung Yanthan and Union Agriculture Secretary Atish Chandra, and senior officials from States and Union Territories.

Chouhan said the Centre and states would work together, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to the missions, and called for integrity, accountability and punctuality from all stakeholders to boost farmer incomes and strengthen the country’s food self-reliance.