The Government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan is giving a major push to domestic production of pulses and maize, with NAFED and NCCF playing a central role in connecting farmers with assured markets and strengthening the cooperative-led procurement system.
The initiative seeks to encourage farmers to increase production of tur, urad and masur to reduce import dependence, while promoting maize cultivation to support the country’s Ethanol Blending Programme.
The Ministry of Cooperation said more than 44.09 lakh farmers have registered on NCCF’s e-Samyukti portal, while over 15.84 lakh farmers have registered on NAFED’s e-Samridhi portal. The large-scale registration reflects the growing role of the two national-level cooperative organisations in bringing farmers into an organised procurement framework.
Through their respective digital platforms and procurement networks, NCCF and NAFED are helping create a mechanism under which pre-registered farmers can receive assured procurement of their produce at the Minimum Support Price (MSP). This provides farmers greater certainty over market access and price realisation even before they take their produce to the market.
The arrangement, however, does not restrict farmers to MSP procurement. The Ministry said farmers remain free to sell their produce in the open market whenever prevailing prices are higher than the MSP. This flexibility allows farmers to benefit from market conditions while retaining the security of an assured procurement mechanism.
NAFED’s role is particularly significant in agricultural marketing and procurement, with its extensive cooperative network providing an institutional channel for aggregating farmers and handling essential commodities. NCCF, meanwhile, is strengthening the consumer-side and procurement ecosystem through its farmer registration and market-linkage initiatives. Together, the two organisations are helping bridge the gap between production and assured demand.
The focus on pulses has strategic importance for India as the country seeks to increase domestic availability of essential pulses and reduce its reliance on imports. Encouraging production of tur, urad and masur through assured procurement is expected to give farmers greater confidence to allocate acreage to these crops.
Maize has been included as another priority commodity because of its growing importance as a feedstock for ethanol production. Promoting maize cultivation can therefore simultaneously support farm incomes, domestic agricultural production and the government’s ethanol blending objectives.
The initiative demonstrates the expanding role of NAFED and NCCF in the Government’s cooperative-led agricultural strategy. By combining digital registration, procurement support, MSP assurance and market flexibility, the two organisations are helping create a more structured link between farmers and markets.
The Ministry said the initiative is aligned with the broader “Sahkar Se Samriddhi” vision, under which cooperatives are being positioned as key instruments for improving farmer incomes, strengthening agricultural value chains and advancing India’s self-reliance in strategically important commodities.
