Nutri Garden Scheme
Free vegetable seeds, fruit saplings, grow bags and organic manure so an island family can grow fresh vegetables and fruit in its own backyard or terrace, instead of depending on costly produce shipped from the mainland.
Run by: Department of Agriculture, Union Territory of Lakshadweep
- Started
- 2021-22
- You get
- Seeds, saplings, grow bags, manure
- Fruit saplings
- Papaya, banana, guava, sapota
- Where
- All inhabited islands
- First drive
- 1,000 farmers, 8,000+ saplings
Overview
Lakshadweep is a chain of small coral islands with very little farm land, and almost all of it is under coconut. Fresh vegetables and fruit are mostly brought in by ship from the mainland, so they are expensive and often not fresh by the time they reach a household. This leaves island families short of the vegetables and fruit needed for a balanced diet.
The Department of Agriculture started the Nutri Garden Scheme in 2021-22 to fix this at the household level. A family that joins gets high-yielding vegetable seeds (okra, tomato, brinjal, chilli, amaranthus and more), fruit saplings (papaya, banana, lemon, sapota, amla, guava and others), grow bags to plant in where there is no open soil, and organic manure — enough to start a small kitchen garden on a terrace or in a backyard.
In the first drive about 1,000 island farmers were given vegetable seed kits and more than 8,000 fruit saplings were handed out across the inhabited islands. The scheme is meant to raise the local supply of fresh vegetables so families eat better, and it continues under the Department of Agriculture — ask the Agricultural Demonstration Unit on your island for the current year's seed and sapling distribution. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has publicly cited the Nutri Garden Project as an example of islanders taking up something new.
A related but separate initiative, the Backyard Poultry Scheme, distributed 7,000 indigenous-breed chickens to women from lower-income Lakshadweep families around the same period — it is run alongside Nutri Garden but is its own scheme with its own eligibility, not a component of the garden kit.
What you get
The benefit as the state notifies it — nothing here is an estimate.
- High-yielding vegetable seeds — okra, tomato, brinjal, chilli, amaranthus and other kitchen vegetables — given free to the household.
- Fruit saplings such as papaya, banana, lemon, sapota, amla and guava for the backyard or garden boundary.
- Grow bags so a family with no open ground can still plant on a terrace, verandah or paved yard.
- Organic manure to start the garden off, keeping it chemical-free and suited to the thin coral soil.
- More fresh vegetables and fruit at home means a better everyday diet and less money spent on shipped-in produce.
Who is eligible
State schemes usually state their criteria as prose rather than a checklist. This is that prose, unpacked — the department’s verification is what decides.
You qualify if
- A household or farmer resident on one of the inhabited islands of Lakshadweep
- Has some space for a kitchen garden — a backyard, terrace, verandah or yard where grow bags can be kept
- Willing to tend the garden and use the seeds and saplings for home growing, not for sale
- Registered with the Agricultural Demonstration Unit / Department of Agriculture on the island for that year's distribution
Documents you need
Have these ready before you start — most rejections are a missing paper, not a missing right.
- Proof of identity and island residence (Aadhaar, ration card)
- Details of the space available for the kitchen garden, if the Demonstration Unit asks
How to apply
Fewer steps than a central scheme, and usually one office rather than a portal.
- 1
Contact the Agricultural Demonstration Unit on your island
Each inhabited island has an Agricultural Demonstration Unit under the Department of Agriculture. Tell them you want to join the Nutri Garden Scheme and ask when the season's seeds and saplings are given out.
- 2
Register and collect the kit
Give your name, residence proof and garden-space details. When the distribution opens, collect the vegetable seeds, fruit saplings, grow bags and organic manure from the Unit.
- 3
Plant and maintain the garden
Fill the grow bags with soil and the manure, sow the seeds and plant the saplings, and water them regularly. The Unit staff can advise on spacing, pests and which crop suits which season.
If something goes wrong
Missing from the list, or payment stuck — here is the channel the department itself publishes for it.
- Issues with registration or the seed/sapling distribution should first be raised with the Agricultural Demonstration Unit on your island.
- If unresolved, use CPGRAMS — the central government's general public-grievance portal, applicable in Lakshadweep — at pgportal.gov.in, or contact the UT's General Administration Department at 04896-262321 / [email protected].
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to pay anything for the seeds and saplings?
No. Under the Nutri Garden Scheme the vegetable seeds, fruit saplings, grow bags and organic manure are given free to the household. It is meant to get families growing their own food, not for resale.
I live in a flat with only a terrace. Can I still join?
Yes. The scheme supplies grow bags exactly for this — you can raise a kitchen garden on a terrace, verandah or paved yard without any open ground.
Can I sell the vegetables I grow?
The scheme is meant for home consumption so a family eats better and spends less on shipped-in produce. Any surplus is naturally shared or sold locally, but the kit is not given for commercial farming.
I heard about free chickens for women in Lakshadweep too — is that part of this scheme?
No, that's the separate Backyard Poultry Scheme, which distributed 7,000 indigenous-breed chickens to women from lower-income families around the same time as Nutri Garden launched. It runs alongside this scheme but has its own eligibility and application — ask the Agricultural Demonstration Unit about it separately.
Facts checked against lakshadweep.gov.in on 8 September 2026. editorial policy.