PM PRANAM scheme: States to get rewards for organic farming

Source: The post is based on the article “States to get rewards for organic farming” published in Livemint on 20th March 2023

What is the News?

The Union government intends to launch a scheme — named PM PRANAM — to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers by incentivising states.

How will the PM PRANAM scheme reduce the use of chemical fertilizers?

The scheme will be launched to check the excessive and indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers as part of the government’s efforts to make farming more sustainable.

As part of the scheme, if the promotion of organic farming by a state leads to a decline in the use of chemical fertilizers, then half the subsidy saved on that account will be transferred to the state.

There will be some conditions attached to how some of the funds have to be utilized by the state, but the rest can be used as per the state’s own choice.

How much is the fertilizer subsidy burden of India?

The fertilizer subsidy burden has shot up sharply in the current financial year on account of the supply disruptions and price escalation in global markets following the Russia-Ukraine war.

The government had originally estimated only about ₹1 trillion for making plant nutrients available to farmers at affordable prices in FY23 but later sought additional spending permission from Parliament. The revised fertilizer subsidy estimate for this fiscal is around ₹2.25 trillion.