Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Appealing to farmers not to stick only to wheat and rice crops, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday highlighted the importance of nutrition in our food and asked farmers to grow food that can be sold across the world.
“Reduce imports, produce foods that can reach the doorstep of people outside India,” Modi said while launching two major schemes with a combined outlay of ₹35,440 crore over a 6-year period. He said pulses play a key role in providing protein to the vegetarian population, for which the country needs to be self sufficient.
“Though atta, chawal (in reference to wheat, paddy crops) are necessary for food security, we have to move beyond it, as nutrition security is equally important,” Modi said in his appeal to farmers to diversify into other crops.
Stressing that farmers have a critical role to play in realising the vision of a developed India (Viksit Bharat) by 2047, he highlighted various measures taken over the last 11 years for the overall development of the agriculture and allied sectors.
Modi said farm exports have nearly doubled, foodgrain production has increased by 90 million tonnes (mt), and fruits and vegetables production has risen by 64 mt since 2014. He reminded the audience that the recent reduction in goods and services tax (GST) rates has benefited rural India and farmers the most, with prices of farm machineries like tractors coming down, even GST was launched in 2017 during his tenure.
The ₹11,440-crore Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses, approved by the Cabinet on October 2, aims to increase pulses production from the current 25.24 million tonnes (mt) to 35 mt by the 2030-31 crop year (July-June) and reduce imports, which touched a record 6.9 mt in 2024-25.
The ₹24,000-crore Pradhan Mantri Dhan Dhaanya Krishi Yojana, approved in July inspired by the success of the aspirational districts programme, was also launched by the Prime Minister to bring up crop yields in 100 low-performing districts at par with national average. Though there is no separate budget for PM-DDKY, it will focus on enhancing productivity, promoting crop diversification, improving irrigation and storage, and ensuring credit access in those 100 districts by converging various Central and State schemes.
He also announced the launch/foundation of 1,054 projects worth ₹3,650 crore under Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, 17 projects worth ₹1,166 crore related to animal husbandry, 16 projects worth ₹693 crore related to fisheries and 17 projects worth ₹808 crore under food processing.
During the programme, Modi distributed certificates to 50,000 farmers certified under the National Mission for Natural Farming, 50 lakh memberships in 10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), 38,000 MAITRIs (Multi-Purpose AI Technicians in Rural India) and computerisation of 10,000 multipurpose Primary Agriculture Cooperative Credit Societies (M-PACS).
Published on October 11, 2025