National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture

Geography glossary

Also called: NMSA · Topic: Land Use, Farming Systems and Cropping Seasons in India · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "Land Resources and Agriculture"

Meaning

The National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) is one of the eight missions under India's National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC, 2008). Its aim is to make farming productive, sustainable, profitable and better able to cope with climate change. It supports integrated farming suited to each location. This means combining crops, livestock, trees and fish so that each part supports the others. It also supports soil and moisture conservation, which means keeping topsoil in place and holding rainwater in the ground. This matters because about half of India's net sown area is rainfed, and these farms suffer most from erratic monsoons.

Example

Dryland tracts of western Rajasthan get under 75 cm of rain a year. Here NMSA-type support goes to rainwater harvesting, soil-moisture conservation and hardy crops such as bajra, moong and guar, often combined with livestock.

Don't confuse with

  • Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY, 2007): a separate scheme that helps states raise farm growth. It is not a NAPCC mission. Class 12 misprints it as "Rashtriya Vikas Yojana".
  • National Mission on Natural Farming (2024): promotes only chemical-free farming that uses inputs made on the farm. NMSA covers sustainability and climate resilience much more broadly.

Related concepts

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