Nearly 60 percent of India’s farmland gets no irrigation. It depends on rainfall alone, yet it still grows close to 40 percent of India’s food grain. One government scheme tries to make that land steadier, without laying a single new canal.
MCQquestion.comIndEco0251 · Indian Economy
Rainfed Area Development, by the Numbers
What India’s biggest rainfed-farming push has actually delivered since 2014-15
0
crore rupees released under RAD since 2014-15, covering 8.50 lakh hectares and 14.35 lakh farmers (PIB, 9 May 2026)
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crore ₹ allocated for RAD in FY 2025-26 alone
0
farmers trained under RAD in FY 2025-26
0 L ha
cumulative area covered since 2014-15
100 ha
minimum cluster size for an RAD project
60:40
Centre:State funding split, from 2015-16
2014-15
the year RAD began, under NMSA
Not the Same Body
RAD is a scheme, run through State/UT governments. The National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA) is a separate expert advisory body. Don’t mix the two up in an exam question.
🌾 What Is RAD?
1. The Core Objective
- Goal RAD stands for Rainfed Area Development. It targets farms that depend on rainfall alone, with no assured irrigation.
- Purpose Its main aim is to raise the productivity of these farms. It also works to cut the climate risk rainfed farmers face, like drought and erratic rain.
- Method RAD pursues this through Integrated Farming Systems, or IFS. IFS combines regular crops with other income sources on the same farm.
- Scale Nearly 60 percent of India’s net sown area is rainfed. That land still produces close to 40 percent of the country’s total food grain.
2. The IFS Model
- Not Monoculture IFS is the opposite of monoculture. Monoculture means growing just one crop, season after season, on the same land.
- Combinations IFS instead layers crops with horticulture, livestock, fisheries, agroforestry, and apiculture. Each activity adds its own separate income stream.
- Why It Helps If one component fails, like a crop lost to poor rain, the others still bring in income. This spreads out a farmer’s risk.
- ICAR’s Role The IFS models used under RAD are specific to each agro-climatic zone. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) develops these models.
🧩 How RAD Works on the Ground
1. Cluster-Based Implementation
- Cluster Size RAD projects are planned around clusters of 100 hectares or more. A cluster can be one contiguous block, or several nearby plots in a village or adjoining villages.
- Why Clusters A cluster-based approach makes the impact more visible on the ground. It also encourages farmers in the same area to take part together.
- Water Component At least 25 percent of a cluster’s area must fall under On-Farm Water Management. This covers small water-harvesting and moisture-conservation works.
- Planning Input Every cluster needs a soil analysis or a soil health card before work starts. This grounds the chosen IFS mix in the site’s real soil condition.
2. Funding Pattern
- 2014-15 In its first year, 2014-15, RAD was funded entirely by the Centre.
- From 2015-16 From 2015-16 onward, the funding pattern changed. The Centre now bears 60 percent of the cost, and states bear the remaining 40 percent.
- Farmer Support Assistance flows to farmers by IFS component, not as one flat payment. A horticulture-based system draws a different rate than a livestock-based one, for example.
- Delivery States and Union Territories implement RAD on the ground. The Centre releases funds to them each year for this purpose.
🏛️ RAD’s Place Under NMSA
1. One Piece of a Larger Mission
- Parent Mission RAD is one component of the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, or NMSA. NMSA itself began in 2014-15, under India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change.
- Sibling Components NMSA also runs Per Drop More Crop (PDMC), which promotes micro-irrigation. It runs Soil Health Management (SHM) too, backed by the Soil Health Card scheme.
- Restructuring From 2018-19, NMSA became a sub-mission under the Green Revolution-Krishonnati Yojana umbrella. From 2022-23, it moved again, under the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (PM-RKVY).
- Not NRAA Don’t confuse RAD with the National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA). NRAA is a separate expert advisory body, not an implementing scheme. Read more: IndEco0228 — NRAA: National Rainfed Area Authority.
📰 Current Affairs
1. RAD’s Full Track Record, Confirmed May 2026
- 9 May 2026 A PIB backgrounder on NMSA, posted 9 May 2026, laid out RAD’s full track record in one place for the first time. (Source: PIB)
- Since 2014-15 Since RAD began, the Centre has released ₹2,119.84 crore under the scheme. That funding has covered 8.50 lakh hectares and reached 14.35 lakh farmers through Integrated Farming Systems. (Source: PIB, 9 May 2026)
- FY 2025-26 In FY 2025-26 alone, ₹343.86 crore went to States and Union Territories for RAD. That same year, 96,013 farmers received training under the scheme. (Source: PIB, 9 May 2026)
- Wider Context The same backgrounder placed RAD next to NMSA’s other components. Per Drop More Crop and Soil Health Management were named as the government’s other two main levers for climate-resilient farming. (Source: PIB, 9 May 2026)
Test Yourself
Which Objectives Are Correct, and the Answer Key
- Statement 1 is the trap. RAD does not encourage monoculture. It exists specifically to move rainfed farmers away from single-crop farming, toward IFS.
- Statement 2 is also wrong. RAD targets rainfed areas, not irrigated regions, and it carries no objective linked to rice cultivation on irrigated land.
- Statement 3 is genuinely correct. Enhancing productivity and minimising climatic risk through Integrated Farming Systems is RAD’s real, stated objective.
Previous Year Question
Asked as: “Which among the following is/are the objective(s) of the Rainfed Area Development (RAD) initiative under the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA)?” (UPSC CSP 2026, GS Paper I).
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