National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) has been formulated for enhancing agricultural productivity especially in rainfed areas focusing on integrated farming, water use efficiency, soil health management and synergizing resource conservation.

NMSA derives its mandate from Sustainable Agriculture Mission which is one of the eight Missions outlined under National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). The strategies and programmers of actions (POA) outlined in the Mission Document, that was accorded ‘in principle’ approval by Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change (PMCCC) on 23.09.2010,aim at promoting sustainable agriculture through a series of adaptation measures focusing on ten key dimensions encompassing Indian agriculture namely; ‘Improved crop seeds, livestock and fish cultures’, ‘Water Use Efficiency’, ‘Pest Management’, ‘Improved Farm Practices’, ‘Nutrient Management’, ‘Agricultural insurance’, ‘Credit support’, ‘Markets’, ‘Access to Information’ and ‘Livelihood diversification’. During XII Five Year Plan, these measures are being embedded and mainstreamed onto ongoing/proposed Missions/ programmes / Schemes of Dept. of Agriculture & Cooperation (DAC&FW) through a process of restructuring and convergence. NMSA architecture has been designed by converging, consolidating and subsuming all ongoing as well as newly proposed activities/programmes related to sustainable agriculture with a special emphasis on soil & water conservation, water use efficiency, soil health management and rainfed area development. The focus of NMSA will be to infuse the judicious utilization of resources of commons through community based approach.