Low cropping intensity and poor credit penetration persist in many Indian districts despite multiple schemes. Critically analyse the measures under PMDDKY to address these gaps.

The Union Cabinet approved the PM Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana (PMDDKY) in July 2025. It targets 100 districts selected for low productivity, low cropping intensity and low credit disbursement. Instead of creating a new scheme, it brings together 36 schemes from 11 Ministries [1]. It picks the right districts, but its tools may end up measuring activity rather than closing these gaps.

Measures for cropping intensity

• Irrigation and crop diversification are stated objectives. Lack of water is the main reason land grows only one crop a year [1].
• Post-harvest storage at panchayat and block level reduces distress sales, which makes a second crop worth growing [1].
• It was launched together with the Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses, which gives farmers a pulses option for a second crop [4].

Measures for credit penetration

• Short-term and long-term credit is a stated goal, and districts with low credit disbursement were chosen on purpose [1].
• FPOs act as aggregators. The FPO Sangam (Dec 2025) brought together 72+ FPOs from 15 States [2].
• The Collector prepares a District Action Plan. Districts are given a public monthly ranking on a dashboard, a method taken from the Aspirational Districts Programme [2].

Critical gaps

• Outputs, not outcomes: the average district score rose from 18.85 to 46.89 between April and August 2026. But rankings use output indicators, and outcomes are reported only once a year [2].
• Irrigation vs diversification: rice and wheat use 55% of irrigated area. In 2023-24, the government procured 43% of paddy output but only 12% of pulses output [3]. New irrigation may simply lead farmers to grow more paddy.
• Credit quality: about 43% of farm credit is spent on non-farm needs; for marginal farmers the figure is 73% [3]. An RBI Working Group (2019) found that interest subvention raised the share of short-term credit rather than investment credit [3].
• Unclear funding: PRS lists PMDDKY only as a Budget announcement, while the Ministry's allocation fell 2.5% against the 2024-25 Revised Estimates [3]. How much new money the scheme brings is unclear.

PMDDKY rightly tackles both gaps through convergence and district-level ownership, but its success depends on measuring results rather than activity. Three steps would help turn convergence into real outcomes: tracking long-term credit separately, giving weight to Per Drop More Crop micro-irrigation in irrigation scores [3], and checking district data independently. This would advance SDG 2 and cooperative federalism.