MIDH — Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture — is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, launched in 2014-15 for the holistic growth of the horticulture sector. It is an umbrella programme that subsumes five earlier schemes: the National Horticulture Mission (NHM), the Horticulture Mission for North East & Himalayan States (HMNEH), the National Horticulture Board (NHB), the Coconut Development Board (CDB) and the Central Institute of Horticulture (CIH) at Nagaland. MIDH covers fruits, vegetables, root and tuber crops, mushrooms, spices, flowers, aromatic plants, coconut, cashew, cocoa and bamboo.

What is the funding pattern of MIDH?

Under NHM (the largest sub-scheme), the Government of India funds 60% and the state government funds 40% of approved outlay for general states. For North-Eastern and Himalayan states the pattern is 90:10 (Centre:State). For Union Territories without a legislature it is 100% central. NHB, CDB and CIH continue to be implemented as 100% Government of India sub-schemes. These ratios are notified in the MIDH Operational Guidelines issued by DA&FW.

Which sub-schemes are included under MIDH?

MIDH bundles five sub-schemes: (1) National Horticulture Mission (NHM), implemented by State Horticulture Missions in all states and UTs except the NE and Himalayan states; (2) Horticulture Mission for North East & Himalayan States (HMNEH), implemented in the 8 NE states plus J&K, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand; (3) National Horticulture Board (NHB) for commercial horticulture, post-harvest infrastructure and market intelligence; (4) Coconut Development Board (CDB) for coconut area expansion, productivity and product diversification; and (5) Central Institute of Horticulture (CIH), Medziphema, Nagaland, for HRD and demonstrations in the NE region.

What does MIDH actually subsidise on the ground?

Major intervention heads under MIDH include: production of quality planting material through accredited nurseries and tissue-culture units; area expansion under fruits, vegetables, spices, flowers and plantation crops; rejuvenation and replacement of senile plantations (mango, citrus, cashew, coconut); protected cultivation — polyhouses, shade-nets and walk-in tunnels; precision-farming and micro-irrigation (in convergence with PMKSY-Per Drop More Crop); organic farming and Integrated Nutrient / Pest Management; bee-keeping for pollination support; post-harvest management — pack houses, integrated pack houses, ripening chambers, cold storage, reefer vans and primary processing units; and wholesale, rural and retail markets. Pattern of assistance (per-unit subsidy ceilings, project caps) is laid down crop-wise and component-wise in the MIDH Operational Guidelines.

How big is Indian horticulture and why does MIDH matter?

India is the world's second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables after China. As per the DA&FW horticulture statistics, total horticulture production crossed 350 million tonnes in 2022-23, from an area of around 28 million hectares, with productivity that has risen materially since the launch of NHM (2005-06) and MIDH (2014-15). Horticulture today contributes roughly one-third of agricultural Gross Value Added on a fraction of the cropped area, which is why MIDH-led investment in nurseries, protected cultivation and the post-harvest cold chain is a central plank of the doubling-farmers'-income agenda.

How does MIDH connect to PMKSY, PMFME and the Soil Health Card?

MIDH explicitly converges with PMKSY-Per Drop More Crop for drip and sprinkler subsidies on horticulture plots, with PMFME (PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises) for downstream processing of fruits, vegetables and spices, and with the Soil Health Card scheme for site-suitability and nutrient planning ahead of orchard establishment. Together these schemes form the end-to-end nursery → drip-irrigated orchard → pack house → processing unit pipeline that DA&FW has been building since 2014-15.

MIDH Guide — Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture, Sub-Schemes, Subsidies and How to Apply

The Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) is the Government of India's umbrella Centrally Sponsored Scheme for the holistic growth of horticulture — fruits, vegetables, spices, flowers, mushrooms, aromatic plants, coconut, cashew, cocoa and bamboo. It was launched in 2014-15by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, by integrating five pre-existing schemes under a single mission so that interventions across nursery, area expansion, protected cultivation, post-harvest infrastructure and market linkages move in step. This guide walks through the sub-schemes, the funding pattern, what MIDH actually subsidises on the ground, and how farmers and FPOs apply. For the broader basket of central programmes, see our India government schemes for farmers reference.

The five sub-schemes under MIDH

MIDH is not a single scheme but an integrating frame. It bundles five components administered by DA&FW:

National Horticulture Mission (NHM) — the largest component, implemented by State Horticulture Missions in all states and UTs other than the NE and Himalayan states. NHM funds area expansion, nurseries, rejuvenation, protected cultivation, organic farming, IPM, post-harvest infrastructure and markets.
Horticulture Mission for North East & Himalayan States (HMNEH)— implemented in the 8 NE states plus Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, with the same intervention basket as NHM tuned to the region's temperate fruit and spice profile.
National Horticulture Board (NHB) — an autonomous body registered in April 1984 under the Societies Act, 1860 with head office at Gurugram, that supports commercial horticulture through credit-linked back-ended capital-investment subsidies on integrated production-to-marketing projects, cold storage and CA storage under CISS, market-led extension and the Hortnet horticulture market intelligence service. See our NHB deep-dive for CISS subsidy quantum, the Hortnet application workflow and the Joint Monitoring Committee inspection process.
Coconut Development Board (CDB) — focused on coconut area expansion, productivity, replanting and rejuvenation, product diversification (virgin coconut oil, neera, coir pith) and the network of Friends of Coconut Trees (FoCT) trained climbers.
Central Institute of Horticulture (CIH), Medziphema, Nagaland — HRD and demonstrations for the NE region, including training of officers, master trainers and farmers, and demonstration blocks of high-value horticulture.

Funding pattern

The funding pattern under MIDH is laid down in the Operational Guidelines issued by DA&FW:

NHM: 60% Centre + 40% State for general states; 90% Centre + 10% State for NE and Himalayan states; 100% Centre for Union Territories without a legislature.
HMNEH: 90:10 (Centre:State) across the covered NE and Himalayan states.
NHB, CDB and CIH: 100% Government of India.

What MIDH actually subsidises

The intervention basket under MIDH spans the full horticulture value chain. Per-unit subsidy ceilings, project caps and crop-wise patterns of assistance are notified in the MIDH Operational Guidelines and updated from time to time. Headline heads include:

Quality planting material— accredited nurseries (model, small and hi-tech), tissue-culture units and seed infrastructure for vegetables. India needs a vastly larger volume of true-to-type planting material if area expansion is to translate to yield gains, and the nursery head sits at the start of the MIDH chain. The R&D pipeline for horticultural varieties feeding this nursery head is anchored by ICAR-IIHR Bengaluru — the ICAR nodal horticulture institute that has released the Arka series of 300+ varieties (Arka Rakshak triple-disease-resistant tomato hybrid, Arka Anamika okra, Arka Kalyan onion, Arka Poornima and Arka Neelamani grapes, Arka Krishna guava, Arka Bhima marigold and others) that flow into NHB-accredited nurseries and state horticulture-department seed chains.
Area expansion — new gardens of fruits (mango, citrus, guava, banana, papaya, pomegranate, apple, walnut), spices (turmeric, ginger, chilli, cardamom), flowers (rose, gerbera, marigold) and plantation crops (coconut, cashew, cocoa). Assistance is staggered over multiple years to ensure plant survival.
Rejuvenation / replacement of senile and unproductive plantations — especially mango, citrus, cashew and coconut — through canopy management, replanting with elite clones and inter-cropping.
Protected cultivation — naturally ventilated and fan-pad polyhouses, shade-nets, walk-in tunnels and plastic mulching for high-value vegetables and flowers.
Precision farming and water management — in convergence with PMKSY-Per Drop More Crop for drip and sprinkler subsidies on horticulture plots, plus on-farm water storage structures.
Organic farming, IPM and bee-keeping — vermi-compost units, bio-control labs, pheromone traps and beehives for pollination, also taken up jointly with NBHM and PKVY.
Post-harvest management and cold chain — pack houses, integrated pack houses, pre-cooling units, ripening chambers, cold storage, CA storage and reefer transport, often as Public-Private Partnership projects via NHB.
Markets and primary processing — rural primary, wholesale, terminal and retail markets, mobile vending units and primary processing units; downstream secondary processing is supported in convergence with PMFME.

Scale of Indian horticulture

India is the world's second-largest producer of fruits and vegetablesafter China. Per the DA&FW horticulture statistics, total horticulture production has crossed 350 million tonnes from around 28 million hectares, surpassing food-grain production in volume terms and contributing roughly one-third of agricultural Gross Value Added on a fraction of the cropped area. Productivity gains since the launch of NHM in 2005-06 and MIDH in 2014-15 have been driven by area expansion, protected cultivation and the beginnings of a national cold chain — the very heads MIDH funds.

How a farmer or FPO applies

The implementing agency at the state is the State Horticulture Mission (SHM)— for example, the Maharashtra State Horticulture & Medicinal Plants Board, the Karnataka State Department of Horticulture, the Andhra Pradesh State Horticulture Mission or the Tamil Nadu Horticulture Department. The practical route is:

Identify the intervention (e.g. mango area expansion, polyhouse, pack house) in the SHM's Annual Action Plan for the year and confirm the per-unit pattern of assistance.
File the application at the District Horticulture Officer or on the state horticulture portal with land record, Aadhaar, bank account, crop / variety details and — for higher-cost components — a Detailed Project Report (DPR).
Undergo pre-sanction inspection. Once sanctioned, complete the work using empanelled vendors / certified planting material and seek post-completion verification before subsidy release.
For NHB capital-investment subsidy projects (commercial orchards above the SHM threshold, cold storage, CA storage), apply through the NHB online portal with the project DPR and banker's appraisal.

How MIDH fits with other schemes on this site

Before laying out a new orchard, use the recommendations on your Soil Health Cardto confirm site suitability and plan the basal nutrient dose; the SHC's pH and EC values matter especially for citrus, banana and grapes. For credit on planting material, drip and labour, the Kisan Credit Card route is usually cheaper than a stand-alone term loan, and PMFBY restructured for horticulture can insure the standing crop. For downstream processing of the harvest — pulps, flakes, dried spices, frozen vegetables — convergence with PMFME brings in micro-enterprise credit and branding support.

References

MIDH portal (midh.gov.in) — DA&FW Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture: operational guidelines, state-wise Annual Action Plans and progress dashboards.
Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (agriwelfare.gov.in) — MIDH guidelines, horticulture statistics and budget circulars.
National Horticulture Board (nhb.gov.in) — commercial horticulture capital-investment subsidies, cold-chain projects and horticulture market intelligence.
Coconut Development Board (coconutboard.gov.in) — area expansion, replanting, product diversification and FoCT climbers.
Central Institute of Horticulture, Medziphema (cih.gov.in) — HRD and demonstrations for North-East horticulture.
Press Information Bureau (PIB) — official press releases on MIDH allocations, horticulture production estimates and sub-scheme updates.

Frequently asked questions

What is MIDH?: MIDH — Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture — is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, launched in 2014-15 for the holistic growth of the horticulture sector. It is an umbrella programme that subsumes five earlier schemes: the National Horticulture Mission (NHM), the Horticulture Mission for North East & Himalayan States (HMNEH), the National Horticulture Board (NHB), the Coconut Development Board (CDB) and the Central Institute of Horticulture (CIH) at Nagaland. MIDH covers fruits, vegetables, root and tuber crops, mushrooms, spices, flowers, aromatic plants, coconut, cashew, cocoa and bamboo.
What is the funding pattern of MIDH?: Under NHM (the largest sub-scheme), the Government of India funds 60% and the state government funds 40% of approved outlay for general states. For North-Eastern and Himalayan states the pattern is 90:10 (Centre:State). For Union Territories without a legislature it is 100% central. NHB, CDB and CIH continue to be implemented as 100% Government of India sub-schemes. These ratios are notified in the MIDH Operational Guidelines issued by DA&FW.
Which sub-schemes are included under MIDH?: MIDH bundles five sub-schemes: (1) National Horticulture Mission (NHM), implemented by State Horticulture Missions in all states and UTs except the NE and Himalayan states; (2) Horticulture Mission for North East & Himalayan States (HMNEH), implemented in the 8 NE states plus J&K, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand; (3) National Horticulture Board (NHB) for commercial horticulture, post-harvest infrastructure and market intelligence; (4) Coconut Development Board (CDB) for coconut area expansion, productivity and product diversification; and (5) Central Institute of Horticulture (CIH), Medziphema, Nagaland, for HRD and demonstrations in the NE region.
What does MIDH actually subsidise on the ground?: Major intervention heads under MIDH include: production of quality planting material through accredited nurseries and tissue-culture units; area expansion under fruits, vegetables, spices, flowers and plantation crops; rejuvenation and replacement of senile plantations (mango, citrus, cashew, coconut); protected cultivation — polyhouses, shade-nets and walk-in tunnels; precision-farming and micro-irrigation (in convergence with PMKSY-Per Drop More Crop); organic farming and Integrated Nutrient / Pest Management; bee-keeping for pollination support; post-harvest management — pack houses, integrated pack houses, ripening chambers, cold storage, reefer vans and primary processing units; and wholesale, rural and retail markets. Pattern of assistance (per-unit subsidy ceilings, project caps) is laid down crop-wise and component-wise in the MIDH Operational Guidelines.
How big is Indian horticulture and why does MIDH matter?: India is the world's second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables after China. As per the DA&FW horticulture statistics, total horticulture production crossed 350 million tonnes in 2022-23, from an area of around 28 million hectares, with productivity that has risen materially since the launch of NHM (2005-06) and MIDH (2014-15). Horticulture today contributes roughly one-third of agricultural Gross Value Added on a fraction of the cropped area, which is why MIDH-led investment in nurseries, protected cultivation and the post-harvest cold chain is a central plank of the doubling-farmers'-income agenda.
Who is eligible and how does a farmer or FPO apply?: Individual farmers, group of farmers, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), Self-Help Groups, co-operatives, partnership firms and companies are eligible for MIDH assistance, with specific eligibility per intervention head. The implementing agency at the state is the State Horticulture Mission (SHM) — for example, the Maharashtra State Horticulture & Medicinal Plants Board, the Karnataka State Department of Horticulture, the Andhra Pradesh State Horticulture Mission, the Tamil Nadu Horticulture Department or the equivalent body in each state. Applications are filed at the district horticulture office or on the state horticulture portal, along with land record, Aadhaar, bank account, project DPR (for higher-cost components) and crop / variety details; pre-sanction inspection and post-completion verification are mandatory before subsidy release.
How does MIDH connect to PMKSY, PMFME and the Soil Health Card?: MIDH explicitly converges with PMKSY-Per Drop More Crop for drip and sprinkler subsidies on horticulture plots, with PMFME (PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises) for downstream processing of fruits, vegetables and spices, and with the Soil Health Card scheme for site-suitability and nutrient planning ahead of orchard establishment. Together these schemes form the end-to-end nursery → drip-irrigated orchard → pack house → processing unit pipeline that DA&FW has been building since 2014-15.

Subsidy ceilings, eligibility and Annual Action Plan inclusions vary by state and year. Farmers and FPOs should confirm current pattern of assistance with their State Horticulture Mission or District Horticulture Officer, and read the latest MIDH Operational Guidelines before committing capital.