On February 10 2025, the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW) has revised guidelines for the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS). As per the revised norms, the Government of India (GoI) has made MIS, a component of the integrated scheme of Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA).
- The MIS is implemented on the request of states or Union Territories (UTs) government for procurement of various perishable agricultural commodities such as tomato, onion, potato, among others, and there is reduction of minimum 10% in market prices in state/UTs as compared to the rates of the last normal season.
Note: The PM AASHA was launched in 2018 with an aim to Provide price assurance for pulses, oilseeds and copra, ensuring financial stability for farmers. In 2024, the Government of India(GoI) extended the PM-AASHA scheme until 2025-26, with an allocation of Rs.35,000 crore.
About Market Intervention Scheme (MIS):
i.It is an ad-hoc scheme which includes horticultural commodities and other agricultural commodities, which are perishable in nature and are covered by the Minimum Support Price (MSP) scheme.
ii.The scheme aims to protect the growers of these horticultural/ agricultural commodities from making distress sales in the event of increased production of crops during the peak harvest period.
- The scheme is being implemented by the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DoA&C), MoA&FW.
iii.Under MIS, losses suffered are shared between the Central Government and the concerned State government in the ratio of 50:50.
- For North-East (NE) states, losses suffered are shared between the Central Government and the concerned State government in the ratio of 75:25, respectively.
Key Changes:
i.It has been mandated that MIS will be implemented only when there is minimum reduction of 10% in the existing market price as compared to the last normal year.
ii.As per the revised guidelines, procurement limit of crops under MIS has been increased from the existing 20% to 25%.
iii.Now, state governments have been given the option to directly pay the difference between the Market Intervention Price (MIP) and the Selling Price(SP) into the bank accounts of the farmers instead of physical procurement.
iv.Central Nodal Agencies (CNAs) like: National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India Limited (NCCF), will reimburse the operational cost incurred in storage and transportation of crops from the producing state to other consuming states, where there is a difference in the price of TOP crops (Tomato, Onion and Potato) between the producing and consuming states.
Points to Note:
i.The GoI has given its approval to NCCF for reimbursement of transportation cost of Kharif tomato up to 1,000 Metric Tonne (MT) from Madhya Pradesh (MP) to Delhi.
ii.Also, it is being proposed to include other than NAFED and NCCF, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs), state nominated agencies, and other CNAs, with the responsibility of undertaking procurement of TOP crops under MIS.
- These agencies will also be entrusted with the responsibility to make transportation and storage arrangements from the producing state to the consuming state in case of price difference between the producing state and the consuming state, in co-ordination with the implementating state.
Recent Related News:
In January 2025, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Chennai, (Tamil Nadu, TN) partnered with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare(MoA&FW) to launch the Project Virtually Integrated System to Access Agricultural Resources(VISTAAR) to revolutionize the agricultural extension system through digitalization for farmers across India.
About Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW):
Union Minister- Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Constituency- Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, MP)
Minister of State (MoS) – Ram Nath Thakur (Rajya Sabha- Bihar); Bhagirath Choudhary (Constituency- Ajmer, Rajasthan)
