Odisha Millets Mission (Shree Anna Abhiyan)

What is the Odisha Millets Mission?

The Odisha Millets Mission is the Government of Odisha's flagship programme for reviving millet cultivation and consumption, formally titled the Special Programme for Promotion of Millets in Odisha and now implemented under the name Shree Anna Abhiyan. The Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Empowerment owns the programme and the Directorate of Agriculture and Food Production runs it, with delivery through women's self-help groups and farmer producer organisations supported by NGOs and research institutions.

The name change is recent and often confuses farmers searching for it. According to the operational guidelines of 22 April 2025, a review meeting held on 25 June 2024 chaired by the Deputy Chief Minister for Agriculture, and the subsequent approval of the Chief Minister, directed that the Odisha Millets Mission be implemented as Shree Anna Abhiyan, following the Prime Minister's declaration that millets be called Shree Anna. Older documents and many farmers still say OMM.

The programme rests on a simple diagnosis stated in its own guidelines. Millets were once a substantial part of diets and cropping systems in Odisha's tribal areas, they need less water and stand up better to climate stress, and they grow on undulating land. As paddy took over the Public Distribution System, millet consumption collapsed and micronutrient deficiency spread. Shree Anna Abhiyan therefore works on farms and on plates at the same time.

Which districts and blocks does Shree Anna Abhiyan cover?

Shree Anna Abhiyan is implemented in 177 blocks across 30 districts under the 2025-26 to 2026-27 operational guidelines, that is, the whole of Odisha. The concentration remains in the rainfed and tribal south and west: Mayurbhanj with 16 blocks, Sundargarh with 15, Koraput with 12, Kandhamal and Keonjhar with 11 each, Nabarangpur and Rayagada with 10 each, Bargarh and Kalahandi with 8 each, Bolangir and Ganjam with 7 each, and Gajapati with 6. Coastal districts entered later and with fewer blocks; Baleswar has 2, and Bhadrak and Deogarh 1 each.

How much does a millet farmer get under the scheme?

The core individual benefit is Component 3.2.3 to incentive for improved package of practices to improve millet productivity. It is a per-hectare cash incentive that falls year by year as the farmer's own capacity grows.

System of Millet Intensification (SMI) in ragi, per hectare

Non-ragi millets: line transplanting, line sowing or intercropping

The same ladder applies: Rs 10,000, Rs 7,500, Rs 5,000, Rs 2,000 and Rs 2,000 per hectare across the five years.

Ragi line transplanting, line sowing or intercropping, per hectare

Each table is built up from real cost heads — seed cost, nursery bed preparation, organic manure, seed treatment in beejamrut, land preparation and transplanting, weeding three times, harvesting and safe storage, and jeevamrut, FYM or compost application. Where intercropping is used, at least 75 percent of the crop must be millets, preferably in a 4:1, 5:1 or 8:2 proportion.

Beyond the per-hectare incentive, Shree Anna Abhiyan supports community-based organisations at Rs 1,20,000 per block per year, funds small millet processing enterprises with a grant support of Rs 30,000 in programme blocks, engages block-level Community Resource Persons at Rs 502 per person-day for a maximum of 25 days, and subsidises farm mechanisation through custom hiring centres, released to the beneficiary's bank account through the DBT farm mechanisation portal.

Who is eligible and who is not eligible?

You can take part if:

• You farm in one of the 177 programme blocks across the 30 districts.
• Your village has a history of millet production and consumption, or the geography suits millets.
• You cultivate a minimum of 0.2 hectare under demonstration, within a cluster of at least 50 hectares whose four corner GPS coordinates are recorded.
• You complete or update your Krushak Odisha registration, which is a mandate for the demonstration plan.
• You hold an Aadhaar-seeded bank account, because payment is Aadhaar-based.

Preference goes to small and marginal farmers, tribal farmers and single women farmers, and to farmers holding a soil health card issued within the last three years. Farmers without a soil health card are still encouraged to participate, subject to soil testing at a mobile or static soil testing laboratory during the season with the help of the Krushak Sathi or village agriculture worker.

You are not eligible if:

• You have already drawn the incentive for five consecutive years. The guidelines are explicit that the same farmer cannot participate again under demonstration after that.
• You are claiming for more than 2 hectares in a year. The cap applies across seasons and across crops, so a farmer growing ragi in kharif and a non-ragi millet in rabi still gets a combined 2 hectares only.
• Your farm lies outside the notified programme blocks.

One rule catches people out. The year of engagement, not the crop, decides the rate. A farmer who grew ragi in year one and switches to a non-ragi millet or a different method in year two is paid at the second-year rate, not as a fresh first-year participant. A farmer who moves from line transplanting in year one to SMI in year two is paid at the second-year SMI rate.

How to apply for the Odisha Millets Mission incentive

1. Register or update your details on Krushak Odisha. This is compulsory and must reflect your demonstration plan for the season.
2. Give your name, land holding, crop plan and seed requirement to the Community Resource Person engaged under Shree Anna Abhiyan, who records it in the CRP register in coordination with the Krushak Sathi and the village agriculture worker. Collection happens in April for kharif and in October for rabi.
3. The farmer list, with seed requirement and crop planning, is submitted through the Facilitating Agency and FPO to the Block Agriculture Officer or Assistant Agriculture Officer by the first week of April for kharif and the first week of November for rabi.
4. The Block Agriculture Officer verifies and approves the list and submits it to the Chief District Agriculture Officer through the ADAPT portal.
5. Cultivate the notified millet using the agreed method; SMI, line transplanting, line sowing or intercropping: on at least 0.2 hectare within an approved cluster.
6. Field verification is carried out by the District Field Verification Committee, and the verified and authorised farmer list is then processed for payment.
7. The incentive is credited to your Aadhaar-linked bank account. Reporting and monitoring run through the ADAPT decision support system.

There is no online application form for the incentive and no fee. Anyone asking for money to add your name to the list is not acting for the programme.

Does the government buy millets in Odisha?

Yes, and it is the biggest single line of programme spending. Under the Operational Guidelines for Procurement of Ragi for the Kharif Marketing Season 2024-25, the Government of Odisha procures ragi at the Minimum Support Price notified by the Government of India, through the Tribal Development Cooperative Corporation of Odisha Limited (TDCCOL). Farmers register on TDCCOL's MPAS portal at mpas.tdccodisha.org, with awareness and data updating support from block and district level agencies of Shree Anna Abhiyan. MSP is payable only for Fair Average Quality ragi; non-FAQ ragi sold below MSP is not covered.

The procured ragi is distributed through the Public Distribution System, and millets have been taken into ICDS, mid-day meals and welfare hostels. Odisha was the first state to include ragi laddu in ICDS, funded through the District Mineral Foundation.

What is the budget of Shree Anna Abhiyan?

The total outlay approved for the Special Programme for Promotion of Millets in Odisha is Rs 2,10,827.63 lakh, or about Rs 2,108 crore, for 2024-25 to 2026-27. It splits three ways: Rs 60,734.07 lakh for programme implementation, Rs 1,36,518.56 lakh for procurement of ragi, and Rs 13,575 lakh for distribution under PDS and others. Annual totals rise from Rs 64,861.12 lakh in 2024-25 to Rs 75,360.16 lakh in 2026-27.

Funding comes from the State Plan, the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) and the Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC). An earlier approved budget covering FY 2021-22 to FY 2026-27 shows the same priorities in more detail, Rs 2,162.08 crore for ragi procurement through TDCCOL, Rs 130.41 crore for improving productivity, Rs 63.96 crore for NGO programme facilitation, Rs 39.81 crore for promotion and strengthening of FPOs and Rs 36.74 crore for millet processing and value addition enterprises.

What else does the mission do besides paying farmers?

Shree Anna Abhiyan's nine stated objectives go well beyond the farm gate: increasing household millet consumption by 25 percent over the baseline, revalorising millet food cultures, conserving millet landraces through a seed system for traditional varieties, promoting post-harvest and primary processing enterprises, improving productivity of millet-based cropping systems, promoting value addition enterprises, including millets in PDS, ICDS, mid-day meals and welfare hostels, facilitating millet markets and exports, and making Odisha the millet hub of India.

The consumer-facing arm is Millet Shakti, the network of outlets, tiffin centres and cafes run by women's self-help groups. The programme has also drawn outside attention: the Government of India has asked states to adopt the Shree Anna Abhiyan model for millets, pulses and oilseeds and set up a task force to study its framework, Chhattisgarh's State Planning Commission recommended a similar mission, and UN-IFAD and UN-FAO have endorsed the framework for agro-ecological work.

Where do I go for help?

The programme secretariat operates from Krushi Bhawan, Bhubaneswar, reachable on +91-674-2395532. At the field level your first contacts are the Community Resource Person and Krushak Sathi in your village, then the village agriculture worker or agriculture officer, and then the Block Agriculture Officer, who is the officer who verifies and approves your entry in the farmer list. District-level questions, including field verification disputes, go to the Chief District Agriculture Officer. Guidelines, procurement rules and district-wise coverage are published at milletsodisha.com.