SHIVRAJ SINGH CHOUHAN ANNOUNCES MAJOR AGRICULTURE REFORMS
New Delhi, May 19, 2026 : Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday announced a series of major reforms aimed at simplifying procedures for farmers, traders, retailers and agri-sector stakeholders under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Reform Express” initiative.
The reforms, reviewed during a high-level meeting of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, focus on improving transparency, reducing paperwork, promoting digital governance and enhancing ease of doing business in the agriculture sector.
Addressing the meeting, Chouhan said the ministry would accelerate reforms to make agricultural governance more technology-driven, transparent and efficient.
During the review, Agriculture Secretary Atish Chandra briefed the minister on ongoing and upcoming reform measures.
One of the key reforms announced was the simplification of the licensing process for the sale and storage of household pesticides. The application form for obtaining a licence has been reduced from three pages to a single page, while the requirement of physical product leaflets has been replaced with QR codes printed directly on product labels.
The move is expected to benefit more than 40 lakh retailers and grocery shopkeepers dealing in products such as mosquito repellent mats, coils, liquid vaporisers and cockroach sprays.
The ministry also announced simplification of the registration process for new fertilisers under the Fertilizer Control Order (FCO), 1985. Earlier, new fertilisers required approval from both the Technical Committee and the Central Fertilizer Committee. The dual approval mechanism has now been removed, leaving only the Central Fertilizer Committee responsible for approvals.
The ministry said 19 applicants and manufacturers have already benefited from the revised process.
In another major reform, the government has completed digital integration across all 649 customs ports in the country to facilitate the import of agricultural commodities. The Plant Quarantine Management System (PQMS) has now been fully integrated with the Indian Customs Electronic Data Interchange Gateway (ICEGATE).
Under the new system, importers will only need to submit a single application through ICEGATE, after which the Import Release Order (IRO) will be issued directly through their login portal.
The ministry also simplified the import-export process for seeds and planting materials by abolishing the EXIM Committee and removing the mandatory requirement of obtaining “Prior Recommendation”, making approvals faster and more convenient.
The ministry also reviewed the ‘Bharat-VISTAAR – AI in Agriculture’ platform, an AI-powered digital system designed to provide farmers with agriculture-related information through a single platform.
Since the launch of its first phase on February 17, 2026, the platform has reportedly handled more than 44 lakh queries.
The ministry said farmers previously had to access over 15 separate platforms for agricultural information, whereas the new system enables them to access all services from a single platform at any time.
The ministry is also considering further reforms under the Fertilizer Control Order, 1985, to speed up the approval process for new fertiliser technologies.
Under the proposed changes, inorganic fertilisers meeting prescribed quality and safety standards may be exempted from mandatory field trials. Officials said the proposal has already received in-principle approval and is being finalised after consultations with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, industry stakeholders and state governments.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Chouhan directed officials to further intensify reforms aimed at improving governance, transparency and technological efficiency in the agriculture sector.
He said the primary objective of the reforms is to make procedures “simpler, faster and more effective” for farmers, traders, entrepreneurs and all stakeholders connected with agriculture.