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The Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) operates under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana umbrella, implemented through State Governments.
Farmers receive financial assistance of 40-50% of the cost of agricultural machinery.
Custom Hiring Centres get 40% of project cost for projects up to Rs 250 lakh; Farm Machinery Banks get 80% for projects up to Rs 30 lakh, raised to 95% for North Eastern States.
The Crop Residue Management Scheme has been integrated with SMAM since 2023-24 on a 60:40 Centre-State funding pattern.
ICAR runs a Network Program on Precision Agriculture involving 16 research institutes.
The central obstacle to Indian farm mechanisation is not the price of machines but the size of holdings. A tractor or combine harvester only pays for itself over a certain acreage, and the great majority of Indian farmers hold too little land to justify buying one — which is what economists mean by adverse economies of scale. Subsidising purchase does not solve this, because a machine used for five days a year is still a bad investment at half price. A Custom Hiring Centre changes the model: the machine is owned collectively or commercially and rented out, so its cost is spread across many farms and many days of use. That is why the scheme funds CHCs and Farm Machinery Banks alongside individual subsidy, and why the CHC route matters more for small and marginal farmers than the subsidy does.
Simple Analogy: Hiring a taxi rather than buying a car you would drive twice a month.
Extend farm mechanisation to small and marginal farmers and to regions with low farm power availability
Key: Subsidy on machinery, support for CHCs and Farm Machinery Banks, plus testing and certification, capacity building, demonstrations and training; encourages precision tools, drones and women-friendly implements
Reduce stubble burning through sustainable residue management
Key: Operates in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and NCT of Delhi; provides subsidised machinery and CHCs; integrated with SMAM under RKVY since 2023-24 on a 60:40 basis
Promote horticulture mechanisation to improve efficiency and reduce drudgery
Key: Assistance for power-operated machines and tools including plant protection equipment
Finance agriculture infrastructure projects
Key: Provides interest subvention, credit guarantee coverage and medium to long term debt financing for eligible projects including CHCs and Farm Machinery Banks
Support agri-startups
Key: Startups developing agricultural machinery and digital mechanisation solutions receive incubation, innovation challenges and funding
Develop precision agriculture technologies suited to Indian conditions
Key: A programme of national importance involving 16 ICAR research institutes, covering crop and soil health monitoring, post-harvest quality, vertical farming, precision aquaculture and livestock health
Conventional farming treats a field as uniform — the same fertiliser dose, the same irrigation, across the whole plot. Precision agriculture treats it as variable, using sensors, drones, satellite imagery and AI to measure what each part of the field actually needs and apply inputs accordingly. The gain is twofold: yields rise where the crop was under-served, and input cost and runoff fall where it was over-served. ICAR's work spans ground, airborne and satellite platforms and includes sensor-based irrigation, drone spraying, AI-enabled precision planters, drip fertigation, hydroponics, aeroponics and agrivoltaic farming. It also extends beyond crops — sensor-based monitoring of aquatic environments for aquaculture and IoT-based livestock health monitoring fall within the same programme.
Simple Analogy: Prescribing medicine by diagnosis rather than giving everyone in the room the same dose.
The CRM Scheme's coverage of Punjab, Haryana, UP, MP and Delhi maps exactly onto the region whose paddy residue burning drives the National Capital Region's winter air pollution
ICAR has established an RPTO at Dehradun for UAV and drone training — mechanisation now requires pilot certification, not only machine operation skills
ICAR has demonstrated a tank-based super-intensive system yielding 120-150 tonnes per hectare per year over three annual cycles, showing precision techniques applied outside crop agriculture
GS Paper 3 > Agriculture > Farm Mechanisation and Technology
General Awareness > Agriculture Schemes
General Awareness > Agriculture and Priority Sector
Consider the following statements: 1. The Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme was launched during 1996-97 to provide loan assistance to poor farmers. 2. The Command Area Development Programme was launched in 1974-75 for the development of water-use efficiency. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer: 2 only
Consider the following statements: The nation-wide 'Soil Health Card Scheme' aims at 1. expanding the cultivable area under irrigation. 2. enabling the banks to assess the quantum of loans to be granted to farmers on the basis of soil quality. 3. checking the overuse of fertilizers in farmlands. Which of the above statements is/are correct?
Answer: 3 only
Consider the following statements: 1. The quantity of imported edible oils is more than the domestic production of edible oils in the last five years. 2. The Government does not impose any customs duty on all the imported edible oils as a special case. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer: 1 only
Which of the following activities constitute real sector in the economy? 1. Farmers harvesting their crops 2. Textile mills converting raw cotton into fabrics 3. A commercial bank lending money to a trading company 4. A corporate body issuing Rupee Denominated Bonds overseas Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Answer: 1 and 2 only
Which Five-Year Plan was based on the "Harrod-Domar Model"?
Answer: First Five-Year Plan
Agricultural schemes appear every cycle in banking and SSC General Awareness, and mechanisation recurs in UPSC GS Paper 3.
Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization, under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana umbrella
A facility renting out farm machinery, so cost is spread across many small holdings rather than borne by one farmer
A collectively held pool of machinery, supported at 80% of project cost — 95% in North Eastern States
Using sensors, drones, satellite data and AI to apply inputs according to what each part of a field actually needs
Growing crops beneath or between solar panels so the same land yields both food and electricity