Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, is implementing Rainfed Area Development (RAD) under PM-RashtriyaKrishiVikasYojana (PM-RKVY). The schemepromotes sustainable agriculture production through Integrated Farming system (IFS) models developed by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Under the scheme, crops/cropping system is integrated with activities like horticulture, livestock, fishery, agro-forestry, apiculture, etc. to enable farmers to maximize farm returns for sustaining livelihood and to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather events.

Evaluation Study of RAD Program has been carried out by NITI Aayog in 2025.  The Study found that RAD interventions, when bundled and implemented in a site-appropriate manner, have proven to be effective in enhancing livelihood security in vulnerable agro-climatic zones and has resulted in substantially enhancing adaptive capacity in drought-prone regions.  The study also found the program having positiveimpact in boosting resilience against climatic shocks, either through soil-moisture conservation, diversified cropping systems, or landscape-based development approaches.

RAD was implemented under National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture since 2014-15& from 2022-23 as part of PM-RKVY. Since inception, Rs. 2119.8397 Crore was provided under RAD programme as Central Assistance to States to adopt IFS covering 8.50 lakh hectares benefiting 14.35 lakh farmers.

Under RAD program, financial assistance of Rs. 10000 per cluster is being provided for capacity building of the farmers adopting IFS.  Besides, KrishiVigyanKendras (KVKs) promote location specific IFS models through demonstrations and training programmes. During 2024-25, KVKs conducted 4416 demonstrations and trained 96,013 farmers on different IFS models.

During 2025-26, central assistance of Rs. 343.86 crore has been allocated to States/UTs for implementation of the program including capacity building of farmers under RAD.

This information was given by Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Ramnath Thakur in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

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