Recent Current Affairs related to Agriculture

India has inaugurated its first farm-level soil carbon payment initiative at the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) in Ludhiana, Punjab.

The payments are distributed as part of the ‘Aadi’ farmer carbon programme, which was launched by Grow Indigo in 2019 under the technical guidance of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). A total of 2,550 smallholder farmers from Punjab and Haryana will receive disbursements of over ₹2.9 crore for implementing verified regenerative agricultural practices.

It is to be noted that the initial phase of the project covered 30,000 acres and generated over 50,000 verified carbon credits. Individual payouts to the farmers ranged from ₹3,000 to ₹15,000, depending on the volume of verified carbon credits generated from the landholdings.

Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has presented the eighth edition of the “businessline Changemaker Awards” in New Delhi. Purnima Devi Barman, known as the “Stork Sister”, was named the “Changemaker of the Year” for her work in the conservation of Greater Adjutant Stork and women empowerment.

The “Iconic Changemaker” award was given to the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) for modernising border infrastructure and Dr. MR Rajagopal for community-based palliative care.

Other winners include ARMAAN for “Digital Transformation” (healthcare via mobile technology), Gourmet Popcornica for “Financial Transformation” (agro-processing), and “Project Sambandh” for “Social Transformation” (aiding bereaved military families).

The PM Kisan Maandhan Yojana (PM-KMY) was launched in 2019 as a voluntary and contributory old-age pension scheme to provide social security to Small and Marginal Farmers (SMFs). The scheme is implemented in collaboration with the LIC and has recently completed 7 years of operation.

The PM-KMY offers eligible landholding SMFs in the age group of 18 to 40 years with cultivable land up to 2 hectares a steady monthly pension starting from the age of 60.

Enrolled farmers are required to make monthly contributions ranging from ₹55 to ₹200, depending on their entry age. It is to be noted that as of February 2026, a total of 24.96 lakh farmers have enrolled in the scheme across the country.

Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Francisco P Tiu Laurel of Philippines have co-chaired the 9th ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry (9th AIMMAF) in New Delhi. The agenda of the 9th AIMMAF focused on climate-resilient farming, with a specific emphasis on implementing low-emission rice cultivation techniques.

The participants endorsed the “ASEAN 2045: Our Shared Future” roadmap and the “ASEAN Food, Agriculture and Forestry Sectoral Plan 2026-2030” to ensure environmental safeguards and food safety in the region. A symbolic “Friendship Spike for Agriculture and Forestry” was also unveiled to commemorate the cooperation between the nations.

The Tamil Nadu government has launched the ‘Vetri Vaanmagal’ scheme to train women farmers in drone operation, promote precision agriculture, and create high-tech employment opportunities in the rural economy.

P Pechiyammal and Govindhammal from Tamil Nadu have been jointly conferred the “Dr. MS Swaminathan Award for Environment Protection 2026”.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed India’s first fully annotated Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) reference genome of the pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.) variety ‘Asha’.

This genome has been approved as the global reference genome to facilitate the development of climate-resilient, high-yielding, and nutritionally enriched pigeonpea varieties.

Gujarat has been honoured with the 'Agriculture Leadership Award 2026' for its performance in the horticulture sector.

The award was presented by Union Minister Rajnath Singh at the 17th Agriculture Leadership Conclave-2026 held in New Delhi.

Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan unveiled the roadmap for 'Viksit Krishi and Samruddh Kisan' as a key pillar of 'Viksit Bharat 2047' during the 98th Foundation Day of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in New Delhi.

During the event, 43 new crop varieties, 17 technologies/products, and 14 publications were released, and over 70 MoUs were signed.

ICAR aims to establish 100 'Climate Smart Villages' before its centenary. Under 'Mission ICAR-100', Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) will be transformed, with each KVK mandated to cover at least 100 villages. Additionally, under the 'One Institute-One Grand Innovation' initiative, every ICAR institute is tasked to develop at least one transformational innovation within 2 years.

Indian Analog Astronaut Captain Aman Johri has successfully completed a microgravity research flight under 'Project Astra Farm'.

The mission focused on studying the behavior of onions and potatoes grown in Maharashtra under microgravity conditions. The research was conducted using a passive microgravity payload in collaboration with the National Research Council Canada (NRC-CNRC).

The Geographical Indications Registry (GIR) has granted the Geographical Indication (GI) tag to Unjha Cumin and Fennel from the Unjha region of Gujarat.

With this, the total number of GI-tagged agricultural products from Gujarat has increased to 6.

The PM Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), launched in 2015, has completed 10 years of advancing irrigation-led agricultural transformation in India. The scheme comprises 4 main components: Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP), Har Khet Ko Pani (HKKP), Watershed Development Component (WDC), and Per Drop More Crop (PDMC).

As of August 2025, the PMKSY has benefited over 27 million farmers and created or restored irrigation potential across 24.61 million hectares (ha), supported by a budgetary allocation of ₹64,407 crore. Since the inception of the PDMC component, 110.92 lakh ha of land have been brought under micro-irrigation.

Union Minister Amit Shah has launched four initiatives to expand governance and assistance for farmers in New Delhi. The 'DRISHTI' portal was introduced as a dedicated tracking system to streamline the real-time inventory management of pulses and oilseeds.

The digital e-auction platform 'NAFEX.in' of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) was launched to connect farmers directly with buyers to eliminate middlemen, ensuring transparent bidding and direct payments to the bank accounts of farmers within 48 hours.

The 'NAFED-KALYAN' scholarship was launched as a social welfare initiative that allocates 1% of the profits of NAFED to fund the higher education and career development of the children of farmers. Additionally, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) portal was launched to strengthen internal digital governance and increase overall operational efficiency.

The RBI has directed banks to exempt agricultural and allied sector loans up to ₹2 lakh per borrower from collateral security and margin requirements under the updated guidelines of the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme.

Furthermore, the voluntary pledge of gold and silver as collateral for agricultural loans up to the collateral-free limit of ₹2 lakh will not be considered a violation of the guidelines on collateral-free lending.

The World Bank has approved a loan of ₹4,000 crore for the “Jal Sanrakshit Haryana” (Water Secure Haryana) project, which has an outlay of ₹5,714 crore. The project aims to resolve the groundwater crisis and ensure water sustainability in the state.

It will be implemented in phases over a 6-year period (2026-2032) and will cover 15 clusters across 48.94 lakh acres.

The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), has reconstituted the Expert Committee on Agrobiodiversity for a tenure of 1 year.

Dr PL Gautam has been appointed as the Chair of the committee, and Dr Trilochan Mohapatra has been appointed as the Co-Chair.

According to the ‘Second Advance Estimates of Horticulture Crops for 2025-26’ released by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), the total horticulture production is projected at 3,777.76 lakh tonnes (LT) across an area of 301.51 lakh hectares (ha). This indicates a 1.90% rise in production and a 0.05% increase in area compared to 2024–25.

Fruit production is estimated at 1,214.75 LT, reflecting an increase of 3.25%. Vegetable production is projected at 2,210 LT (a 1.47% growth) across an area of 118.79 lakh ha, which is an increase of 0.75%. Onion production is estimated to remain stable at 307.37 LT, while the area under cultivation is expected to rise by 2.31% to 20.14 lakh ha.

Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has chaired the 16th BRICS Agriculture Ministers' Meeting in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Held under India’s 2026 BRICS Chairship, this was the first-ever BRICS agricultural summit to include both Member and Partner Countries.

The BRICS Agriculture Working Group identified 4 priorities: Food Security and Nutrition (focusing on smallholder farmers, women, and youth), Agricultural Trade, Regenerative Farming (promoting climate-resilient practices), and Investment and Innovation.

The summit concluded with the adoption of the ‘Indore Declaration’, which emphasises a farmer-centric global food system and rejects unilateral trade restrictions that threaten food security.

To implement the declaration, the member nations established 5 institutional networks: the BRICS Network of Centres of Excellence on Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture (coordinated by the ICAR-Indian Institute of Farming System Research (IIFSR), Modipuram), Network on Digital Agriculture (coordinated by the IIT Delhi), BRICS Agro-Inputs, Genetic Resources, and Information Network (BRICS AGRIN Framework), Knowledge-to-Action Hub (by strengthening the BRICS Agricultural Research Platform (BARP)), and the Global Forum on Farmers' Rights in Seed Systems.

The ICAR-Indian Institute of Oilseeds Research (ICAR-IIOR), Hyderabad, has launched “Oilseeds Kisaan Mitra,” a WhatsApp-based AI advisory service.

The initiative aims to harness digital technology to benefit the farming community. It enables oilseed farmers across India to access free, trusted, and instant crop advisory through WhatsApp.

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has facilitated the first export consignment of Geographical Indication (GI)-tagged Tezpur Litchi from Assam to Dubai.