Training of Farmers on Pulses Production Technologies

What is the Training of Farmers on Pulses Production Technologies scheme?

Training of Farmers on Pulses Production Technologies is a component of the Integrated Scheme for Oilseeds, Pulses, Oilpalm and Maize (ISOPOM), implemented in Tamil Nadu by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare. Under it, a provision of Rs 15,000 per batch of 50 farmers is made to train farmers in pulses production technology: roughly Rs 300 per farmer, and free to the farmer who attends.

The training component is aimed squarely at farmers who raise seed farms with a pulses crop. That targeting is deliberate. A seed farm is held to standards an ordinary commercial crop is not: isolation distance from other plots of the same crop, roguing of off-type plants, timing of operations, moisture at harvest, and separate handling to avoid mixture. A farmer who has never grown seed will fail certification on any one of these and lose the premium. Training is what prevents that.

Why pulses. Pulses are cultivated in Tamil Nadu over a normal area of 7.87 lakh hectares with a normal production of 4.93 lakh metric tonnes and productivity of 626 kg per hectare. Tamil Nadu ranks third in India in pulses and groundnut. The department's 2025-26 policy note notes that pulses offer a protein-rich diet, and that their place in the Tamil diet; muthirai and the other traditional pulses, dates back centuries. Productivity of 626 kg per hectare is, however, well below what improved practice yields, and closing that gap is the reason for the training and demonstration components.

Who can attend the pulses training, and who is not eligible

A farmer can enrol if:

• The farmer raises a seed farm with a pulses crop. This is the stated eligibility condition for the pulses components of ISOPOM.
• The crop is one of Tamil Nadu's pulses: red gram, black gram, green gram, horse gram or cowpea, which the department targets for area and production increase.
• Funds are available. Eligibility for the pulses components is expressly subject to availability of funds.

Earmarking. Under the pulses head of ISOPOM, 24 per cent of the allocation goes to SC and ST farmers and 20 per cent to farm women. A farmer in either category should say so when enrolling and produce the certificate, because these are separate shares of the allocation.

A farmer cannot claim if:

• The farmer does not raise a pulses seed farm. Growers of other crops are not eligible under this head, though the maize component of ISOPOM runs its own training at Rs 300 per farmer for 2 days, 50 farmers per batch, and other schemes train farmers in other crops.
• Funds for the season are exhausted.
• The batch of 50 for the block is already full for the season. Enrol early.

How to apply for the pulses training

1. Approach the Assistant Agricultural Officer at village level, who is the first point of contact for every ISOPOM component and who compiles the block's list of trainees.
2. State that you raise or intend to raise a pulses seed farm, and name the crop, red gram, black gram, green gram, horse gram or cowpea.
3. Produce your land records: chitta, adangal or patta, for the pulses plot, along with Aadhaar, and an SC or ST certificate if you are claiming under that earmarked share.
4. Register your seed farm with the Assistant Director of Agriculture of the block on payment of the requisite fees, if you have not already. A registered seed farm is what puts you inside the pulses seed programme, and the training runs alongside it.
5. Attend the training when the batch is formed. Batches are of 50 farmers, and are organised through the crop season by the block agricultural officers.
6. Follow the guidelines given by the field level functionaries and Seed Certification Officers during the crop, since the point of the training is to meet the field standards that certification depends on.
7. Escalate if no batch is running in your block — to the Agricultural Officer or Deputy Agricultural Officer, then the Assistant Director of Agriculture, then the Joint Director of Agriculture at district level.

What a pulses seed grower needs to know

The training exists to convey a specific body of practice. The scheme documents set out the framework the trainee will be working within:

• Source seed is supplied by the Department of Agriculture through Agricultural Extension Centres on payment of the sale price fixed by the department, and carries a certification tag issued by the Department of Seed Certification.
• The seed farm must be registered by the seed producer with the Assistant Director of Agriculture of the block on payment of the requisite fees.
• Field standards must be maintained throughout the crop, following the guidelines of field level functionaries and Seed Certification Officers. On satisfactory fulfilment, the produce is declared fit at field level and becomes the field run produce.
• The produce must then satisfy laboratory standards of physical and genetic purity, moisture level and germination percentage as prescribed in the certification standards.
• Movement to the Seed Processing Unit happens after inspection by the Seed Certification Officer and with due permission, with the farmer bearing the transport cost.
• Payment is 90 per cent of the Minimum Support Price as an advance on delivery to the processing unit, with the balance to the full procurement price paid once the lot passes testing. If the lot fails, the entire advance must be repaid in one instalment before the stock is returned.

That last sentence is the reason the training matters. A failed seed lot is not merely a lost premium; it is a repayment obligation.

What else a pulses farmer in Tamil Nadu can claim

National Food Security Mission (Pulses) operates in Coimbatore, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Namakkal, Tiruvallur, Tiruvarur, Thoothukudi, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, Villupuram and Virudhunagar districts, with assistance for foundation and certified seed production at Rs 1,000 per quintal, certified seed at 50 per cent or Rs 1,200 per quintal, gypsum limited to Rs 750 per hectare, micro nutrients at Rs 500 per hectare, IPM demonstration inputs at 50 per cent or Rs 750 per hectare, sprinkler sets at 50 per cent limited to Rs 7,500 per hectare, and extension and training at Rs 1 lakh. Thirty-three per cent of the allocation goes to small and marginal and women farmers, 16 per cent to SC farmers and 8 per cent to ST farmers, with assistance limited to two hectares per farmer.

Larger pulses programmes. In 2024-25, Food and Nutrition Security – Pulses and Targeting Rice Fallow Areas (Pulses) were implemented with expenditure of Rs 25.20 crore and Rs 2.21 crore respectively, benefiting 2,24,500 farmers, and continue in 2025-26 at an outlay of Rs 41.30 crore. Climate Resilient Redgram Transplantation Technology covered 2,222 hectares in 2024-25 at Rs 2 crore under RKVY and continues in 2025-26 over 12,900 hectares at Rs 10 crore. Under the Mission on Area Expansion in Redgram, Rs 17.50 crore covered 70,000 acres in 2024-25 benefiting 64,755 farmers, rising to Rs 20 crore over 80,000 acres in 2025-26.

Other training routes with higher rates

A pulses farmer who wants more than a short batch course should ask about ATMA, the Agriculture Technology Management Agency, which funds:

• Farmers' training of 21 days: Rs 400 per day per farmer within the district, Rs 750 per day within the state, Rs 1,000 per day interstate, at 90 per cent subsidy for general farmers and 95 per cent for SC, ST and women farmers.
• Exposure visits, Rs 600 per day per farmer interstate and Rs 300 per day inter-district.
• Demonstrations of one acre with Rs 4,000 worth of inputs.

Under the National Food Security Mission (Pulses), farmers' training on the Farmers Field School pattern is funded at Rs 17,000 for a group of 30 farmers.

Why farmers miss the training

• Batch already full. Fifty farmers per batch is a hard number; enrol early in the season.
• Not a pulses seed farm grower. The component's eligibility is tied to seed farm cultivation of pulses.
• Funds exhausted, since eligibility is subject to availability of funds.
• Earmarked category not claimed; SC, ST and farm women shares go unclaimed when the certificate is not produced.
• Enrolled but did not attend. Attendance is what the Rs 15,000 per batch pays for, and an absent trainee blocks a place another farmer could have used.

Where to get help

• Assistant Agricultural Officer at village level. The first point of contact for enrolment.
• Agricultural Officer or Deputy Agricultural Officer at block level.
• Assistant Director of Agriculture at block level, the officer who registers seed farms.
• Joint Director of Agriculture at district level, for escalation.
• Agricultural Extension Centre to 882 across Tamil Nadu.
• Portal: tnagrisnet.tn.gov.in, the Department of Agriculture's AGRISNET portal, and the Uzhavan mobile application.

The training is free to the farmer. No fee should be paid to anyone for a place in a batch.

How to check your training enrolment status

This component has no online application form and no application ID, so there is nothing to track through a portal tracker in the way a subsidy application is tracked. What a farmer can check, and how:

1. Confirm your name is on the block's trainee list. After enrolling with the Assistant Agricultural Officer, ask when the batch of 50 is expected to be finalised for your block and confirm your name has actually been entered, not just noted verbally.
2. Follow up at the Agricultural Extension Centre. The extension centre in your block holds the running list of batches formed and scheduled for the season; a visit or call here is the most reliable way to learn whether a batch has been fixed and when it will run.
3. Ask the Assistant Director of Agriculture about seed farm registration status, if your place in the training depends on your seed farm being registered. Registration is a separate step from enrolling for training, and a pending registration can hold up your batch placement.
4. Check the AGRISNET portal or Uzhavan app (tnagrisnet.tn.gov.in) for general scheme and batch information published by the Department of Agriculture, though day-to-day batch scheduling is handled at block level rather than shown as a per-farmer online status.
5. Escalate through the same chain used for enrolment if a block has gone through part of the season without forming a batch: Agricultural Officer or Deputy Agricultural Officer first, then the Assistant Director of Agriculture, then the Joint Director of Agriculture at district level.

Because the training is a batch-based, funds-subject-to-availability component rather than an individual benefit disbursed against a claim, there is no SMS or portal notification to wait for; the practical status check is a direct conversation with the block-level officer who is compiling that season's list.