Ministry
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is the Government of India's apex department for crop agriculture and the farm economy. It sets the minimum-support-price (MSP) regime through the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, runs the country's largest direct-cash and price-support schemes, and directs agricultural research through the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Because it governs the incomes of a workforce of hundreds of millions, it is one of the most politically exposed seats of power in the Union government.
Updated
- Headquarters
- Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi
- Departments
- 2 (Agriculture & Farmers Welfare; Agricultural Research & Education / ICAR)
- Budget 2025-26
- ~Rs 1.38 lakh crore (about 2.7% of the Union Budget)
- Sector weight
- Agriculture ~16% of GDP; ~46% of the workforce (approx.)
Role
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is the Union government’s principal department for crop agriculture and the incomes of the farm population. It works through two departments: the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, which runs schemes, extension and market policy, and the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, which houses the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Its most consequential lever is price: the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices recommends the minimum support prices that the Cabinet notifies for 22 mandated crops each year, and the ministry’s schemes — direct income support under PM-KISAN, price support under PM-AASHA, crop insurance and subsidised credit — translate those prices into transfers.
Agriculture is a State subject under the Constitution, so the ministry sets national policy and funds central schemes while implementation runs through state governments and their procurement agencies. That divided authority, and the fact that the sector still supports close to half the workforce while producing about a sixth of GDP, makes the ministry a seat of power whose decisions on MSP, procurement and market rules are among the most contested in Indian politics.
Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.
Timeline since 1947
- reference
Department of Revenue, Agriculture and Commerce created
The colonial government set up the first central department to handle agricultural administration.
- reference
Ministry of Agriculture constituted at independence
The farm-administration machinery of the state passed to the independent Union government.
- reference
MSP and procurement architecture established
The Agricultural Prices Commission (later the CACP) and the Food Corporation of India were set up, creating the price-support and procurement system still in use.
- reference
Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana created as a state-flexible farm investment fund
Launched under the 11th Five Year Plan with the stated goal of 4% annual agricultural growth, RKVY gave states autonomy to write their own agriculture investment plans against central funds rather than follow a single national scheme design. It remains one of the ministry's two largest umbrella schemes.
- reference
Soil Health Card scheme launched with a Rs 568 crore outlay
The scheme committed the ministry to issuing nutrient-status cards to farmers, with an initial allocation of about Rs 568 crore and a stated ambition of covering roughly 14 crore farm holdings. It marked a shift of extension policy toward per-holding diagnostics.
- reference
Renamed Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
Announced in the Independence Day address, the words 'Farmers Welfare' were added to signal a shift toward farmer-income programmes alongside production policy.
- reference
Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana replaces the earlier crop-insurance regime
PMFBY superseded the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme and its modified version, becoming the ministry's principal risk-transfer instrument for crop loss. It is now the second-largest line in the ministry's budget after PM-KISAN.
- reference
e-NAM electronic mandi platform launched
The National Agriculture Market gave the ministry a direct federal instrument in APMC trading, an area otherwise controlled by states; roughly 1,000 APMC mandis across 18 states and 2 union territories have since been integrated, out of about 6,500 nationally.
- reference
MSP formula reset to at least 1.5 times production cost
The Union Budget for 2018-19 committed the government to fixing kharif MSPs at a minimum of 50% above production cost, without defining in the announcement which of the CACP's cost concepts applied — the ambiguity that later drove the legal-MSP demand.
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Animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries hived off
Those subjects were reorganised into a separate Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, leaving this ministry with two departments.
- reference
PM-KISAN direct income support launched
A Rs 6,000-per-year cash transfer to landholding farmer families became the ministry's single largest scheme.
- reference
PMFBY made voluntary for loanee farmers from the kharif season
Enrolment ceased to be automatic for farmers with crop loans, making the scheme 100% voluntary; Gujarat exited the scheme the same year, citing the fiscal burden of premium subsidy.
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Three farm ordinances promulgated, bypassing the state APMC regime
The Union government promulgated ordinances on produce trade outside market yards, contract farming and stock limits, moving the ministry into marketing territory that had been state-administered under APMC law.
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Parliament enacts the two farm-marketing laws replacing the June ordinances
The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill were introduced on 14 September and cleared the Rajya Sabha on 20 September 2020, permitting trade outside market yards without market fees and setting a three-tier dispute route for farming contracts.
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Essential Commodities Act amended to narrow stock-limit powers
The amendment confined regulation of cereals, pulses, edible oils and similar items to extraordinary circumstances such as war or famine, and permitted stock limits only on a 100% retail-price rise for horticultural produce or 50% for non-perishable food items.
- reference
Supreme Court stays the farm laws and appoints an examining committee
The Court suspended implementation of the three laws and set up a committee, whose confidential report was filed on 19 March 2021 and made public by a member in March 2022. The stay froze the ministry's marketing reform ahead of the November 2021 repeal.
- reference
Three 2020 farm laws repealed
After a year of protest at Delhi's borders, the government withdrew the three market-liberalisation laws; a demand for a legal MSP guarantee remained open.
- official
PMFBY moves to revamped operational guidelines and a technology stack
The scheme portal now runs on the 2023 Operational Guidelines and a set of official systems — YES-TECH for technology-based yield estimation, WINDS for weather data, AIDE for assisted enrolment and CCE for crop-cutting experiments — with grievances routed through the Krishi Rakshak Portal and Helpline on 14447.
- official
PM-AASHA price-support scheme continued at Rs 35,000 crore
The Cabinet extended the integrated price-support, price-deficiency and market-intervention scheme for pulses, oilseeds and copra.
- reference
Ministry budget set at Rs 1.38 lakh crore with crop insurance cut 23%
The 2025-26 allocation of Rs 1,37,757 crore was 2.5% below the 2024-25 revised estimate; PM-KISAN held flat at Rs 63,500 crore, the Crop Insurance Scheme fell from Rs 15,864 crore to Rs 12,242 crore, while RKVY rose 42% to Rs 8,500 crore and Krishonnati Yojana 13% to Rs 8,000 crore.
- official
MSP for 14 kharif crops (2025-26) approved
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs raised the common-paddy MSP to Rs 2,369 per quintal on CACP's recommendation.
Frequently asked
- What is Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare?
- The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is the Government of India's apex department for crop agriculture and the farm economy. It sets the minimum-support-price (MSP) regime through the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, runs the country's largest direct-cash and price-support schemes, and directs agricultural research through the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Because it governs the incomes of a workforce of hundreds of millions, it is one of the most politically exposed seats of power in the Union government.
- When was Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare established?
- Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare was established 1947.
- What does Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare do?
- Its remit covers Crop-production policy, seeds, fertiliser-use guidance and extension, Minimum Support Price (MSP) recommendations via the CACP and its notification, Price-support and procurement schemes (PM-AASHA) and crop insurance, Farmer income support (PM-KISAN) and agricultural credit (interest subvention, KCC), Agricultural research and education through the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (DARE/ICAR).
- What is the latest on Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare?
- As of 2026-07-05: MSP for 14 kharif crops (2025-26) approved. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs raised the common-paddy MSP to Rs 2,369 per quintal on CACP's recommendation.
Official sources
The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.
-
Canonical home of the ministry's main department; schemes, divisions, notifications. (agricoop.gov.in is the older alias.)
agriwelfare.gov.in/
- Annual Reports reports
Year-by-year DA&FW annual reports in PDF, latest and archive.
agriwelfare.gov.in/en/Annual
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The ministry's statistics arm — crop production estimates, area/yield series, Agricultural Statistics at a Glance.
desagri.gov.in/
- AGMARKNET 2.0 data
Daily mandi arrival and price dashboard reported from APMC market yards.
agmarknet.gov.in/
- PM-KISAN portal other
Official scheme portal for the income-support transfer, with registration and beneficiary status.
pmkisan.gov.in/
- Seeds Act, 1966 (India Code) legislation
Bare Act plus rules, regulations and notifications for the seed-quality regime the ministry administers.
www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/1712?view_type=browse
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