We focus on grains and food industry.
We focus on grains and food industry.
We focus on grains and food industry.
We focus on grains and food industry.
We focus on grains and food industry.
We focus on grains and food industry.
We focus on grains and food industry.
We focus on grains and food industry. current time
Centre Pushes States to Speed Up Digital Farming and Pulses Self-Reliance Drive
The Centre has urged States to accelerate implementation of the Digital Agriculture Mission and Pulses Self-Reliance Mission, with greater focus on ensuring that government initiatives translate into tangible gains for farmers.
At a national agriculture conference in New Delhi, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan reviewed progress on farmer identification, digital land records, crop surveys and the expansion of pulses production. States were asked to meet their targets within the prescribed timelines and ensure that funds and infrastructure reach the intended beneficiaries.
Farmer IDs have emerged as a key component of the digital agriculture push, enabling government payments to be routed directly into farmers’ bank accounts. So far, 10.41 crore IDs have been created across 26 States and Union Territories. This represents 84.68 per cent of PM-KISAN beneficiaries and nearly 77 per cent of operational landholdings.
The government is also stepping up efforts to digitise land and crop information. Geo-referencing of village maps has been completed for 5.9 lakh villages, accounting for 93.05 per cent of the identified total. Meanwhile, the Digital Crop Survey has expanded from 290 districts in 2024-25 to 650 districts by Rabi 2025-26, with coverage targeted at 692 districts during Kharif 2026-27.
The area covered by the crop survey is expected to increase sharply to 13.4 crore hectares in the coming Kharif season, compared with 9.18 crore hectares in 2025-26 and 3.87 crore hectares in 2024-25. India’s pulses sector has also recorded improvement. Production increased to 274.09 lakh tonnes in 2025-26 from 256.83 lakh tonnes a year earlier. At the same time, imports declined from 72.56 lakh tonnes to 59.64 lakh tonnes.
Pulses acreage rose to 286.46 lakh hectares, while productivity improved from 926 kg to 957 kg per hectare. The government is targeting 528 new processing units by 2026-27 to strengthen domestic processing capacity.
Alongside higher production, the next priority is building adequate storage, processing and market infrastructure. Public-private partnerships are expected to play a larger role in expanding these facilities and improving market access.
The broader objective is to build a more reliable digital and physical agricultural ecosystem, reduce India’s dependence on imported pulses and ensure that productivity gains translate into better and more stable returns for farmers.
