National Food Security and Nutrition Mission

The National Food Security and Nutrition Mission (NFSNM) — known as the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) from its 2007 launch until 2024-25 — is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme that raises production of rice, wheat, pulses, coarse cereals, nutri-cereals and commercial crops (cotton, jute, sugarcane) through area expansion, better cropping systems and higher productivity, funded jointly by the Centre and states.

Yes. During 2024-25, the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) was renamed the National Food Security and Nutrition Mission (NFSNM), and the erstwhile Sub-Mission for Seed and Planting Material was merged into it as a seventh component. The Cabinet approved its continuation under the Krishonnati Yojana umbrella through 31 March 2026.

Rice, wheat and pulses (from 2007), coarse cereals — maize and barley — and commercial crops — cotton, jute and sugarcane (added 2014-15), and nutri-cereals — jowar, bajra, ragi and small millets, run as a dedicated Sub-Mission on Nutri-Cereals since 2018-19. Oilseeds and oil palm, once part of NFSM, now sit under the separate National Mission on Edible Oils (NMEO).

For rice, wheat, pulses, coarse cereals and nutri-cereals, coverage is not a fixed list — each State Food Security & Nutrition Mission Executive Committee selects districts every year, prioritising low-productivity but high-potential, aspirational, border and Left-Wing-Extremism-affected areas. Commercial crops have fixed state lists: cotton in 15 states, jute in 9 states and sugarcane in 13 states, together spanning 19 states.

No. NFSNM is not an income-support scheme. It funds in-kind and subsidised support — demonstrations, certified seed, free seed minikits, nutrient and plant-protection inputs and training — delivered through state agriculture departments. Some components (such as the seed grower’s share of seed-production assistance) are settled by Direct Benefit Transfer, but there is no universal annual payment to every farmer.

There is no individual self-registration portal like pmkisan.gov.in. Districts and clusters are chosen by the state’s Food Security & Nutrition Mission Executive Committee, and farmers within a selected cluster are enrolled by the District Agriculture Office (or by a KVK/ICAR institute for front-line demonstrations). To be considered, contact your block or district agriculture office and ask whether your area is included in that season’s Annual Action Plan.

A cluster demonstration shows an improved package of practices or a newly released variety on farmers’ fields, organised in a contiguous block of 10 hectares (2 hectares in hilly and North-Eastern states). Each participating farmer contributes 0.4 to 2.0 hectares, a Soil Health Card is mandatory, and a field day with at least 30 neighbouring farmers is compulsory to spread what was learned.

Seed minikits are free packets of certified, newly released pulses or nutri-cereal seed — 16 kg for gram, 8 kg for lentil, 4 kg for moong/urd/tur, 1.5 kg for bajra, and 4 kg for jowar/ragi/small millets — each with bio-fertiliser and a package-of-practices leaflet. They are distributed by the state agriculture department to small and marginal farmers in selected districts; a farmer cannot get a minikit for the same crop or variety more than once every two years.

General farm-implement and water-application-tool support under NFSM’s flexi component has been discontinued; states may instead fund state-specific, precision-farming or new-machinery pilots up to 50% of cost, subject to approval. One exception remains: jute growers can get a subsidised nail weeder (₹1,000 or 50% of cost, whichever is less). Broader farm-mechanisation subsidy is handled by the separate Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM), not NFSNM.

At the state level, the State Food Security & Nutrition Mission Executive Committee approves the district list and Annual Action Plan; at the district level, the District Food Security & Nutrition Mission Executive Committee, chaired by the District Collector, oversees implementation. Panchayati Raj Institutions are involved in beneficiary selection where an online selection system does not yet exist.

The Centre and states share costs 60:40 in general states, 90:10 in North-Eastern states plus Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and 100:0 for Union Territories and national-level implementing agencies — a pattern in place since 2015-16.

No — a farmer who has received a demonstration, certified-seed distribution, seed minikit, or nutrient/plant-protection subsidy for a given crop or variety must wait at least two years before receiving the same component again. Across all components, assistance to any one farmer or seed grower is capped at 5 hectares in a season (with tighter component-level caps, e.g. 2 hectares for nutrient/IPM support, 1 hectare for certified-seed distribution).

Yes. At least 30% of the funds under every component are earmarked for women farmers. Sixteen percent of the total allocation is earmarked for Scheduled Caste farmers and 8% for Scheduled Tribe farmers (proportional to their population in the state), and Forest Rights Act (FRA) Patta holders are explicitly eligible once their rights are recorded in land records.

The mission followed a National Development Council resolution of 29 May 2007 and was launched as NFSM in October 2007. Coarse cereals and commercial crops were added in 2014-15, and the Sub-Mission on Nutri-Cereals in 2018-19. During 2024-25 it was renamed NFSNM and folded the Seed and Planting Material sub-mission into itself; the Cabinet has approved its continuation under the Krishonnati Yojana through 31 March 2026, with FY 2025-26 operational guidelines currently in force.

NFSNM does not publish a dedicated citizen helpline number or email on nfsm.gov.in or agriwelfare.gov.in. For enrolment, status or grievances, contact your Block/District Agriculture Office or your State Department of Agriculture directly — they run the mission on the ground. The national Mission Directorate’s office address is: National Food Security and Nutrition Mission, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Krishi Bhavan, Dr Rajendra Prasad Road, New Delhi – 110001.