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Under PM-PRANAM, five States and Union Territories — Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Delhi, Goa, Manipur and Mizoram — cut chemical fertilizer consumption by a cumulative 0.18 lakh metric tonnes in 2025-26 against their previous three-year average.
PM-PRANAM was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 28 June 2023 for 2023-24 to 2025-26, and offers States an incentive equal to 50 per cent of the fertilizer subsidy saved.
The Government has stated that incentives under the scheme have not yet been disbursed.
The One Nation, One Fertilizer initiative under PMBJP, effective from 24 August 2022, requires all public, cooperative and private companies to sell subsidised urea, DAP, MOP and NPKS under the single 'BHARAT' brand.
The National Mission on Natural Farming, launched on 25 November 2024 with an outlay of Rs 2,481 crore, covered 10.32 lakh hectares and 20.93 lakh farmers in FY 2025-26.
Reward States and UTs that reduce chemical fertilizer consumption and shift towards alternative fertilizers, organic farming and resource conservation
Key: Approved by CCEA on 28 June 2023 for 2023-24 to 2025-26; incentive equal to 50 per cent of the subsidy saved, with 95 per cent going to the State or UT and 5 per cent retained by the Centre
Standardise fertilizer branding to cut confusion, reduce criss-cross movement and ensure timely supply
Key: Effective 24 August 2022; mandates public sector, cooperative and private companies to market subsidised urea, DAP, MOP and NPKS under the common 'BHARAT' brand
Raise nutrient use efficiency and reduce bulk fertilizer dependence
Key: Nano Urea and Nano DAP are supplied through Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samriddhi Kendras; foliar application is supported by Kisan Drones, battery-operated sprayers and custom hiring through Village Level Entrepreneurs. Gujarat gives a 50 per cent subsidy on nano fertilizers and Rajasthan a 50 per cent subsidy on spraying costs; Uttarakhand has mandated their use in demonstrations under ATMA, the National Food Security Mission and the Soil Health and Fertility scheme; IFFCO and Coromandel International are among the manufacturers
Promote organic farming through cluster formation with end-to-end support from production to certification and marketing
Key: Implemented since 2015-16 through States and UTs, with preference to small and marginal farmers; assistance of Rs 31,500 per hectare over three years
Build organic value chains in the North Eastern States
Key: Also running since 2015-16; assistance of Rs 46,500 per hectare over three years, including support for forming Farmer Producer Organisations
Promote chemical-free farming integrated with livestock, diversified cropping and traditional agricultural knowledge
Key: Launched 25 November 2024 with an outlay of Rs 2,481 crore; farmers adopting natural farming get an output-based incentive of Rs 4,000 per acre per year for two years, capped at one acre per farmer; supported by Bio-Input Resource Centres and Krishi Sakhis
Fertilizer subsidy in India is paid by the Centre to manufacturers so that farmers buy urea and other nutrients below cost. That means the fiscal cost of over-application falls on the Union budget while the environmental cost — nutrient imbalance, declining soil organic carbon, nitrate leaching — falls on the State's land. States therefore had no direct financial reason to discourage excess use. PM-PRANAM changes the incentive by measuring a State's consumption of urea, DAP, NPK and MOP against its own average for the previous three years, calculating the subsidy the Centre did not have to pay because of the reduction, and returning half of that saving to the State. The design is deliberately self-financing: the money is not a new allocation but a share of an avoided expenditure. The release also notes the limit of the scheme so far — five States and UTs registered a cumulative reduction of just 0.18 lakh metric tonnes in 2025-26, and no incentive has yet been disbursed.
Simple Analogy: It works like a landlord offering to split the savings on the electricity bill with a tenant who switches off the lights — the reward exists only if consumption actually falls.
Allocates fertilizer quantities through monthly supply plans, monitors availability and administers the subsidy and PM-PRANAM
Assesses State-wise and month-wise fertilizer requirement before each cropping season in consultation with State Governments, and runs PKVY, MOVCDNER and the National Mission on Natural Farming
The Cabinet committee that approved PM-PRANAM on 28 June 2023 — a distinction worth noting, since major economic schemes are cleared here rather than by the full Cabinet
PM-PRANAM is designed to be funded out of avoided subsidy expenditure, tying soil health directly to fiscal policy
Balanced nutrient use, soil sampling under NMNF and Bio-Input Resource Centres all target the same underlying problem of skewed NPK ratios caused by relatively cheap urea
Kisan Drones and Village Level Entrepreneur custom-hiring services are the delivery mechanism for foliar application of nano fertilizers
The Centre sets the incentive and the States must earn it, with 95 per cent of the payout flowing to the State — a design that depends on State-level campaigns rather than central mandates
GS Paper 3 > Economy > Agriculture, Subsidies and Soil Health
General Awareness > Government Schemes
General Awareness > Agriculture and Government Schemes
General Awareness > Government Schemes
Fertilizer subsidy, soil health and organic or natural farming missions recur every year in Prelims and in GS Paper 3 agriculture questions
PM Programme for Restoration, Awareness Generation, Nourishment and Amelioration of Mother Earth
Pradhanmantri Bhartiya Janurvarak Pariyojana, the initiative under which One Nation, One Fertilizer and the BHARAT brand operate
Integrated Fertilizer Management System — the online platform tracking fertilizer movement across the supply chain
Nutrient formulations applied as a foliar spray in very small quantities, intended to raise nutrient use efficiency relative to bulk granular fertilizer
A village-level centre supplying natural farming inputs; 7,601 have been established under NMNF
Natural Farming Certification System, under which more than 22.47 lakh farmers have registered