In August 2024, the Union Cabinet approved the Clean Plant Programme (CPP) under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare to tackle a longstanding issue in horticulture: systemic pathogens (especially viruses) in planting material that cause losses farmers often cannot reverse once the disease is established. The program was conceived in response to climate change, biotic and abiotic stresses, and yield losses that follow from using infected or low-quality planting stock. The National Horticulture Board (NHB) leads implementation, with technical collaboration from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and funding support, including a loan from the Asian Development Bank.
Before CPP, many farmers depended on nurseries whose health-screening and certification systems were weak or inconsistent. Diseases in mother plants, lack of diagnostic infrastructure, and weak regulation meant that even when crops looked fine initially, pathogens could later undermine yield, quality, or shelf life. There was also a limited supply of high-quality, disease-free seedlings, especially in fruit and horticultural crops. Growers had to either accept risk or incur higher costs trying to source healthy material. The CPP aims to change that.
What’s happening now: CPP is scaling up in several concrete ways. It plans to establish nine Clean Plant Centers across the country to produce disease-free planting material. Of these, three centers in Maharashtra (Pune for grapes, Nagpur for oranges, and Solapur for pomegranates) will alone cost around ₹300 crore.
Modern nurseries (large & medium) are being supported with grants, with large ones receiving about ₹3 crore and medium ones ₹1.5 crore each. The goal is to supply about 8 crore disease-free seedlings annually. A national-level lab is to be established in Pune for research on original plant species. Hazard analysis work is already underway in major fruit crops: for grapevine (578 samples in several states), for apple (535 samples in temperate zones), and preparatory work for citrus.
On the institutional front, diagnostic capabilities are being assessed: NHB, ICAR, and ADB teams visited public and private laboratories nationwide to measure readiness for high‐throughput screening (e.g., bioinformatics HTS pipelines), nursery ecosystem design, and lab oversight. A CPP website has been launched to act as a central hub for updates and resources. The process includes stages: testing planting material, eliminating pathogen presence via tissue culture or other methods when needed, followed by propagation of clean material, mother plant maintenance, and distribution through certified nurseries.
Looking ahead, farmers stand to gain significantly if the program delivers as planned. Using virus-free and high-quality planting material should increase yields, fruit quality, shelf life, and income; reduce losses, especially in early years of planting; and lower costs in the long term (fewer losses, fewer disease treatments).
Modern, certified nurseries are likely to gain business and trust, stimulating more investment. For consumers, better fruits (taste, appearance, food safety) will matter. For exports, cleaner planting material strengthens India’s ability to meet phytosanitary standards abroad. Also, by aligning with environmental and plant health goals (e.g., preserving genetic integrity, disease resistance), CPP can help mitigate some impacts of climate change.
Challenges will need attention if CPP is to succeed. First, ensuring small and marginal farmers get access to the clean seedlings without prohibitive costs or delays. Geographic equity is a concern: remote or less developed regions may lag unless infrastructure (nurseries, labs, transport) is developed.
Also, regulation, certification, and monitoring must be robust; hazards in screening must be detected early and reliably. Maintaining mother plants, pathogen-free propagation environments, and preventing reinfection will require strong technical capacity and continuous oversight. Secrets in biosecurity, lab standards, and personnel training cannot be shortcuts.
If these challenges are tackled, CPP could help shift Indian horticulture from reactive disease management to preventive, science-led planting systems. Over time, this may translate into higher productivity, stable incomes for farmers, reduced dependence on imported plant material, better export competitiveness, and more resilient horticulture suited to India’s varied agro-climates.