Doubling Income of Farmer by 2022 Background Even though the agricultural contribution to GDP is comparatively less and reducing over a period of time from 23.4% in Ninth Five Year Plan to 15.2% (Twelfth Five Year Plan) in Eleventh Five Year Plan, rapid growth is very necessary to attain inclusive growth since a major source of income of majority is Agriculture in India. Employment share of agriculture has been reduced from 64.8% in the year 1993-94 to 48.9% in the year 2011-12 (Central Statistics Office (CSO). PE: Provisional Estimates). There is a vital need to look at agriculture in terms of source of income for a major portion of the community, instead of mere productivity.
Strategies to increase the income of the farmers- A review of literature Prime Minister Narendra Modi has envisioned seven- point strategy to double the income of farmers by 2022. He has mentioned seven strategies, those are as under: Big focus on irrigation with large budgets, with the aim of "per drop, more crop." Provision of quality seeds and nutrients based on soil health of each field. Large investments in warehousing and cold chains to prevent post-harvest crop losses. Promotion of value addition through food processing. Creation of a national farm market, removing distortions and e-platform across 585 stations. 6. Introduction of a new crop insurance scheme to mitigate risks at affordable cost. 7. Promotion of ancillary activities like poultry, beekeeping and fisheries. (NDTV) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Farmers income can be increased by increasing the productivity, by decreasing cost of cultivation, by ensuring competitive price with transparent price discovery mechanisms and by integrating allied activities, agriculture and non- farm sector and wage employment during agriculture off season (The Financial Express, 2016). NITI Aayog has mentioned in its paper released in the year 2015 that five issues needs to be addressed to improve the livelihoods of farmers. Those are, increasing the productivity, remunerative prices for farmers; focus on land leasing and land titles, risk adaptation and mitigation, and a geographical focus on the eastern region. (S Chandrasekhar, Nirupam Mehrotra, 2016). Importance to land leasing and land titling NITI Ayog has given importance to the aspect of per-capita land holding and considered it as an important determinant in doubling the income. There is a vital need to understand the extent to which legalizing and liberalizing land leasing can improve agricultural efficiency, equity, occupational diversification and rapid rural transformation (Expert Committee 2016:
5) and will increase the income from agriculture. (S Chandrasekhar, Nirupam Mehrotra, 2016). Land laws to be changed to bring land leasing practice. This will increase the term investment by the tillers and will enhance the productivity and production (The Financial Express, 2016). Decentralized procurement and increase in MSP The Minimum Support Price for Paddy and wheat had increased in the last decade. At the same time decentralized procurement was chosen by some states like Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. These states have increased their share in total production. (Vijay Poul Sharma and Harsh Wardhan, 2015) This had contributed to increased income of farming community. (S Chandrasekhar, Nirupam Mehrotra, 2016). Formation and nurturing of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO) The idea behind formation of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO) can increase the probability of farmers getting remunerative prices. In this regard, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and other stakeholders have been working towards formation and nurturing of FPOs (S Chandrasekhar, Nirupam Mehrotra, 2016). Water management and Irrigation technology Water is critical for any improvement in agricultural productivity and profitability. The per capita availability of water in India is a mere 200 cum, compared to nearly 6000 cum in the US. This means renewed emphasis should be given for promoting drip irrigation for better water use efficiency (Vivek Joshi, 2016). It is also estimated that close to 40% of horticulture is wasted in transit. This calls for massive investment in cold chains and cold storage. Solar power could be used for this in the future. Lack of access to markets and information asymmetry are two major constraints faced by farmers today. Internet penetration and mobile telephony should bridge this gap considerably in the medium term. There is renewed emphasis on investing in irrigation as evident in the fact that 50% of the projects funded under RIDF were for irrigation and 30% of fund allocated were for irrigation. Farmers should opt for diversified income sources such as livestock to increase income. . (S Chandrasekhar, Nirupam Mehrotra, 2016). Development of market Target of increasing income will be achieved by providing more consumer points or markets. This is lacking in the present conditions due to lack of physical logistic system. Physical logistics
to connect farm to consumer and easing certain regulatory restrictions will give greater access to market, reduces risks involved in selling and motivates the farmers to produce more. Farmer's income, for the first glance is revenues generated by the sale of yield. It means to increase the productivity. But, the efforts towards increasing productivity should be in line with market linkage. Access to market will enable the farmer to sell all the yields by reducing the loss or waste in selling. Excellence in operation helps to reduce the inputs, to reduce the use of depleting resources, to lower cost of operations, to counter on-farm vagaries, etc. These and other tactical measures at farm-gate help reduce input costs and may add to farm outputs. (Pawanexh Kohli, 2016) Infrastructure development Infrastructure development in the areas of irrigation, connectivity, marketing storage, communication and small farm equipment is very much necessary to increase the productivity and efficiency. Integrated approach to agriculture The survey conducted by NSSO in the year 2013 reveals the sources of income of agricultural household that gets 63% of its income from cultivation, around 4% from livestock, 5% nonagricultural enterprises and wage/salaried employment 22%. There is a notable variance in distribution of households by its primary source of income in all Indian states. Farming households will be engaged in multiple activities. According to unit-level data of 2013 survey only 12-13% of farming households do not undertake any other income generating activity. A sizable proportion of households undertake multiple income generating activities. So it is important that other related occupations that can contribute to doubling of income of farming household. (S Chandrasekhar, Nirupam Mehrotra, 2016). R&D in agriculture Research and Development in agriculture had played an important role in agricultural transformation during Twelfth Plan. Major focus of R&D was on increasing the yield by more intensive use of water and biochemical inputs. Effect on environment in the long run and efficient exploitation of natural resources were ignored. Effect of this was so evident, so the research agendas are selected rationally in Twelfth Plan. It had stressed to shift the focus on commodity based approach to farming systems approach to address locally identified issues. (Twelfth five year plan) Information and technology
Leveraging technology, adopt precision farming, correct and timely farming and market information is essential to reduce the substantial yield gap. Irrigation efficiency has to be achieved. By considering climate change, there is a huge need to develop a climate resilient agriculture. Approaches to reduce the cost of cultivation have to be more focused on localized solution than universal solution as no universal solution works. Dissemination of information- Lab to land The extension system of State agricultural departments is the weakest link in the chain between research and the farmer. (Twelfth Five year Plan). Only 41% of the agricultural households get access to technological information (NSSO, 2013). Access to information on technology plays vital role in preferences and practices among farming community and in turn increases the efficiency. Digital technology has to be used extensively to disseminate the information. Information Technology has to play important role in increasing the efficiency of agricultural market and better price discovery. Suitable skill development activities have to be taken up. Banks and other financial institutions have to extend its services to these ventures (The Financial Express, 2016). Crop Insurance Indian agriculture is considered as gambling with Monsoon. Very small segment of farmers get their crop insured in India. The main reason being lack of information on crop insurance (NSSO, 2013) Beyond income generation from farms focus should be on reducing the post-harvest losses, exploring opportunities in allied sector, food processing and off farm incomes generations have to be given importance. Robust institutional credit flow mechanism has to be developed to meet various financial needs at institutions level and enterprise level. A special attention to small and marginal farmers, tenant farmers, share croppers and farmers of east center and north east regions has to be given (The Financial Express, 2016)..
Reference and Bibliography: 1. Sharma and Wardhan, Assessment of Marketed and Marketable Surplus of Major Foodgrains in India, April 2015, p.no. 22 2. S Chandrasekhar, Nirupam Mehrotra, “Doubling Farmers’ Incomes by 2022 What Would It Take?”, Economic & Political Weekly, vol lI no 18, No 4. 3. http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pm-narendra-modi-outlines-7-point-strategy-todouble-farmers-income-1291619 4. Financial express. http://www.financialexpress.com/article/fe-columnist/doublingfarmers-income/309155/ Compiled by: Ankur Singhal 5. Report on doubling farmers income by 2022, Farm Crisis and Farmer Distress,ICFA 6. What is Double Farming Income, Pawanexh Kohli, May-2016 7. Report on doubling farmers income by 2022, Farm Crisis and Farmer Distress,ICFA 8. Faster, Sustainable and more Inclusive Growth, An approach to Twelfth Five Year Plan. 9. Key Indicators of Situation of Agricultural Household in India, NSSO, 2013