Why is in news? Union Agriculture Minister chairs the National Conference on Agriculture for Zaid Campaign-2023
The Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister chaired the National Conference on Agriculture for Zaid (Summer) Campaign-2023 in New Delhi.
Two-thirds of India’s population is engaged in agricultural activities. It is a primary activity, which produces food grains and raw materials for industries.
India is geographically a vast country so it has various food and non-food crops which are cultivated in three main cropping seasons which are rabi, kharif and zaid.
Major crops can be classified into- Food crops - Rice, Wheat, Millets, Maize and Pulses. Cash crops - Sugarcane, Oilseeds, Horticulture crops, Tea, Coffee, Rubber, Cotton and Jute.
PM PRANAM Scheme:
To reduce the use of chemical fertilisers the Government is planning to Launch the PM PRANAM (Promotion of Alternate Nutrients for Agriculture Management Yojana) Scheme.
The objectives is to encourage the balanced use of fertilisers in conjunction with biofertilisers and organic fertilisers.
Aim: To bring down the subsidy burden on chemical fertilisers, which is estimated to reach Rs 2.25 lakh crore in 2022-23 — 39% higher than 2021 figure of Rs 1.62 lakh crore.
The scheme will have no separate budget and will be financed through the “savings of existing fertiliser subsidy” under schemes run by the Department of Fertilizers.
50% of subsidy savings will be passed on as a grant to the state that saves the money.
70% of the grant provided under the scheme can be used for asset creation related to the technological adoption of alternate fertilisers and alternate fertiliser production units at the village, block and district levels.
The remaining 30% grant money can be used for rewarding and encouraging farmers, panchayats, farmer producer organisations and self-help groups that are involved in the reduction of fertiliser use and awareness generation.
The calculation of reducing chemical fertiliser use of urea in a year will be compared to the average consumption of urea during the last three years.
For this purpose, data available on a Fertilizer Ministry dashboard, IFMS (Integrated Fertilizers Management System) will be used.
UPSC / PCM - 2026 / NEW REGULAR BATCH STARTS ON SEP-5, 2025 
