4. National Food Security Mission and Pulses Production

As part of the eleventh five-year plan, the Government of India launched the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) in 2007–2008 with a major objective of boosting the food production to deal with the concerns of food insecurity. The programme targeted an increase in production of rice, wheat and pulses by 10, 8 and 2 million tonnes respectively by the end of the 11th five-year plan. The scheme was initially launched in 482 districts of 19 states. Out of which 144 districts in 16 states were under the rice scheme and 142 districts in 9 states under the wheat scheme and 468 districts in 16 states under the pulses scheme. The new targets were set in the twelfth five-year plan with an objective of distribution of technologies and better farm management practices guidelines. The scheme continued during the twelfth five-year plan with a new set of targets. The focus of all these schemes was the improvement of yield by bridging the gap between actual yield and potential yield.