The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare detailed comprehensive measures for the conservation, research, production, value addition, and promotion of traditional agricultural produce and indigenous/local crop varieties in India. The initiatives are implemented through multiple agencies and schemes with significant documented outcomes.
Under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001, the PPV&FR Authority has registered 5,346 farmer's varieties belonging to traditionally cultivated varieties and landraces as of July 15, 2026. The National Gene Fund established under the same Act has conferred 45 Plant Genome Saviour Community Awards, 69 Plant Genome Saviour Farmer Rewards, and 88 Plant Genome Saviour Farmer Recognitions to farmers and farming communities across the country for their conservation efforts.
The National Food Security & Nutrition Mission includes a 'Boosting Seed Production of Traditional Varieties' component that provides financial assistance for seed distribution, production, capacity building, and seed bank creation for traditional varieties. The PM Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme adopts the One District One Product approach, with ODOPs approved for 726 districts across 35 States/UTs including traditional products like Makhana, Shahi Litchi, and Jardalu Mango.
Research initiatives include 13 dedicated projects at ICAR-IARI supported by ICAR, DBT, and DST focusing on characterization and utilization of indigenous germplasm in crops such as wheat, rice, maize, sesame, lentil, cucumber, and tomato. Significant achievements include the development of improved Pusa Basmati rice varieties that dominate India's Basmati exports, and two high-yielding varieties (Pusa Narendra KN1 and Pusa CRD KN2) targeting Geographical Indication areas in eastern Uttar Pradesh.
The National Gene Bank conserves over 100,000 landraces/traditional varieties as of July 15. Collaborative efforts with Alliance Bioversity-CIAT have documented over 5,000 native varieties of 25 crops across 11 states, identifying nearly 300 superior traditional varieties for large-scale cultivation. The program has established nearly 50 Community Seed Banks conserving more than 4,000 traditional varieties of over 25 crops, and completed nutritional profiling of more than 3,000 traditional varieties supporting branding and commercialization.
Additional support comes from the Ministry of Food Processing Industries' R&D scheme under Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana, which has approved 257 R&D proposals including several focused on traditional/indigenous produce. Traditional products are also protected through Geographical Indications registration and promoted through commodity-specific Boards including the recently established National Makhana Board.
Special emphasis has been given to traditional millets ("Shree Anna") through the National Food Security and Nutrition Mission, with the Indian Institute of Millets Research serving as the Global Centre of Excellence on Millets. The Production Linked Incentive scheme for Food Processing Industry includes a dedicated Millet-Base Products component to incentivize value addition and commercialization of millets.