Nanaji Deshmukh Krishi Sanjivani Prakalp

The Nanaji Deshmukh Krishi Sanjivani Prakalp was conceptualised by the Department of Agriculture, Government of Maharashtra and the World Bank to develop a drought-proofing and climate-resilient strategy for the agriculture sector as a long-term and sustainable measure, to address the likely impacts of climate variabilities and climate change. The project focuses on the evidence-based scientific implementation of this plan. The project has introduced transformational changes in the agriculture sector by scaling up the adoption of climate-smart technologies and practices at the farm and micro-watershed level, contributing to drought-proofing and creation of new opportunities in villages worst hit by drought and salinity/sodicity affected villages in the state. The project is supporting investments by farmers, farmers’ collectives, and communities for accessing water, optimal utilization of natural resources, value addition of agriculture commodities, and adoption of climate-resilient agriculture technologies. The project has taken a gender-sensitive approach to prioritize the needs of the women stakeholders in the planning and implementation of project interventions which is being driven through “Krushi Tais” (female mobilizers) at the village level. Direct Benefit Transfer portal and mobile application allow farmers to apply for matching grants for their farm-level investments aimed at improving incomes. The DBT portal is a workflow-based end to end online system through which the project officials can verify the eligibility and assets created and transfer the matching grants directly to the farmer’s Aadhar linked bank account. Another module of this portal allows the farmers’ collectives to receive matching grants for their value chain based agribusiness proposals.