Union Coal and Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for what he described as a transformative commitment to sustainable agriculture, saying the Prime Minister's championing of natural and organic farming goes beyond crop yields to ensure long-term ecological balance.

Context

In his post, Kishan Reddy — who also serves as BJP's Telangana state president — wrote that PM Modi's 'steadfast commitment to sustainable development is fundamentally transforming India's agricultural landscape.' He added that 'through targeted policies and direct encouragement,' the Prime Minister has 'inspired a massive behavioral shift among the nation's farmers.'

The remarks come as the central government has, over the past decade, incrementally expanded its policy architecture around organic and natural farming, driven in part by concerns over soil degradation and high chemical input costs that trace back to the Green Revolution era.

Policy Backdrop

The flagship scheme underpinning these efforts is the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), launched in 2015, which promotes organic farming through 50-acre clusters, providing farmers with certification support and marketing linkages. A separate Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region, also approved in 2015, targets organic value chains across eight northeastern states.

The National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture has further included components for soil health, organic inputs, and climate-resilient practices since 2010. Together, these programmes form part of India's broader National Action Plan on Climate Change and aim to connect farmers to premium domestic and export markets.

Sikkim became a landmark reference point in this journey when it was declared India's first fully organic state in 2016, having phased out chemical inputs across all agricultural land — a model that policymakers have cited as proof of concept for wider replication.

Stakeholders and Impact

Small and marginal farmers and certified organic producers are the primary beneficiaries of these schemes, which offer financial assistance, group certification under clusters, and access to organic markets. Reducing dependence on chemical fertilisers also carries direct implications for the government's subsidy burden.

The promotion of organic and natural farming spans multiple ministries and state governments, reflecting what policy observers describe as a gradual, multi-stakeholder shift rather than a single top-down programme. The alignment of Kishan Reddy's remarks with the government's stated ecological goals underscores the cross-ministerial political investment in the agenda.

What's Next

Attention will now focus on the expansion of certified organic area under PKVY and state-level natural farming programmes, as well as any new budgetary allocations or marketing linkages that may be announced in forthcoming agricultural policy statements. The trajectory of farmer uptake and the pace of certification across new clusters will be key indicators of whether the policy push translates into measurable ground-level change.