CNN Central News and Network–ITDC India E-Press/ITDC News Bhopal: On the initiative of Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, a special agricultural roadmap prepared for Madhya Pradesh’s Raisen, Vidisha, Sehore and Dewas districts is now set to emerge as a model for agricultural transformation in the country. Taking forward the announcement made during the Advanced Agriculture Festival held in Raisen, Chouhan has made it clear that this is not merely a government programme, but an accountable mission based on farmers’ income, water conservation, soil health, scientific farming and the effective convergence of schemes. The Union minister chaired a high-level meeting in Delhi today on Madhya Pradesh’s agricultural roadmap, attended by Madhya Pradesh Agriculture Minister Endal Singh Kansana and senior officials of the Central and state governments.
Presenting a major vision to make Raisen, Vidisha, Sehore and Dewas ideal models of agricultural development, Shivraj Singh Chouhan said at the important meeting that the roadmap being implemented in these four districts is not just a review document, but a concrete blueprint for change prepared with farms, farmers and the future of agriculture at its core.
Chouhan said he had personally seen the condition of fields in these areas. He said the falling groundwater level, weakening soil health and farmers not receiving income commensurate with their hard work were matters of concern. For this reason, he said, it was his heartfelt wish that Dewas, Sehore, Raisen and Vidisha should become successful models of agricultural reform that could later be implemented in other districts across the country as well.
He said in clear terms that the biggest measure of the roadmap’s success would be the farmer’s net income. What the current income is in each district, and how much improvement is seen after the roadmap is implemented, will be the main basis of every future review. According to him, this meeting was not a routine exercise to review progress, but an accountability meeting meant to ensure results.
Referring to El Nino and the water crisis, the Union minister also outlined a clear strategic approach. He said steps must be decided from now itself, looking beyond immediate conditions, so that the rabi crop can remain protected. He described El Nino as both a challenge and an opportunity, saying that if farmers’ crops and incomes remain secure through this roadmap even in difficult circumstances, confidence in scientific farming and the integrated agriculture model will become stronger.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan gave a clear message to the committees formed at the national, state and district levels that merely constituting committees would not be enough; results must be visible on the ground. With the mantra of “One Team, One Task”, he stressed the need to fix, at every level, who will do what and by when. He also outlined three main responsibilities for the national committee—identifying policy obstacles and resolving them, ensuring effective convergence of Central and state schemes, and fixing accountability up to the district level.
He said schemes such as PMKSY, NFSM, NMEO-OP, MIDH and SMAM would not run in different directions; rather, their integrated and direct impact should be visible in farmers’ fields. The state-level committee will be responsible for linking, in a time-bound manner, the supply of improved seeds from ICAR, demonstration plots through KVK and extension activities through the Agricultural Technology Management Agency.
Chouhan also sought specific information on the formation of district committees under the chairmanship of the district collector in all four districts, the joint functioning of KVK, DAO and the district administration, and the status of ground-level coordination. He said review of soil health card distribution, micro-irrigation targets and progress, availability of farm mechanisation equipment, and the operational status of custom hiring centres in each block would be necessary.
Calling crop diversification a central element of the roadmap, he stressed the need to promote district-wise agricultural systems. Instructions were issued to give special attention to progress in taking soybean-maize intercropping to farmers in Vidisha, high-value crops in Sehore, the paddy-garlic system in Raisen, and the maize-garlic-onion based system in Dewas.
On the integrated farming system, Union Minister Shivraj Singh highlighted the target of starting a pilot in at least one block in each district from Kharif 2026. He said developing multiple sources of income by linking dairy, fisheries and horticulture with agriculture was the need of the hour. For this, solid coordination among the animal husbandry, horticulture and agriculture departments will be ensured.
He also focused on strengthening Farmer Producer Organisations and the horticulture sector. Directions were issued to connect the FPOs of all four districts with markets, release funds for nurseries and cold chains under MIDH, and prioritise solutions to constraints such as the water crisis and cold-chain gaps. This is expected to provide farmers with better opportunities from production to marketing.
Describing farmer training and capacity building as the foundation of the roadmap’s success, Shivraj Singh Chouhan emphasised the active role of the KVK network. He also called for increasing the participation of institutions such as the Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal, and the Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal, and for working towards preparing at least one lead farmer in every block so that he can play the role of a motivator and guide at the local level.
The announcement made at the Advanced Agriculture Festival in Raisen now appears to be taking shape as a concrete implementation framework. Prepared on the initiative of Shivraj Singh Chouhan under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this agricultural roadmap is not being seen as an initiative limited to just four districts, but as a practical model from Madhya Pradesh for nationwide agricultural innovation, water management, scientific farming, crop diversification and enhancement of farmers’ income.
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