Sourajit Dey Department of Agronomy, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal - 741252, India. “I wish to double the income of farmers by 2022 when India will celebrate 75 years of its independence.” PM Narendra Modi while addressing farmers rally at Bareilly (Feb 28, 2016) “Over the last seven years, the Government of India has taken many initiatives for transforming agriculture. From better irrigation to more technology, more credit and markets to proper crop insurance, focus on soil health to eliminate middlemen, the efforts are all encompassing.” PM Narendra Modi addressing at the webinar on PM-Kisan’s 2nd anniversary (Feb 23, 2021) Not only the farm incomes (i.e. output or the income of the sector or the value added or GDP of agriculture sector) but also the income of farmers. REAL INCOME not NOMINAL INCOME Nominal income can be defined as the income expressed in monetary terms and measured in current currency (in India its Rupee). Real income can be stated as the income of individuals or nations after adjusting for inflation.Real income = Nominal income –Inflation Reduction in arable land. Lower crop yields. Low consumption of pesticides leading to increase in pest attack. Fig- 1 Yields of major crops (tons/ha), 2017 Fig 2- Per capita consumption of pesticides (kg/ha), 2016 Lack of short duration HYVs. Higher cost of production. Imbalance in application of chemical fertilizers. Low Farmers’ Income. Lower irrigation efficiency. Low storage and processing facilities. Lack of marketing facilities. Primitive way of farming. A huge marketing margin taken by middlemen. Fig-3 Percentage of Farm households below poverty line Boost Crop productivity through better technology & increased use of quality seed, fertilizer and irrigation and crop-protection chemicals Incentive structure in the form of remunerative prices of some crops and subsidies on farm inputs Public investments in agriculture Building institutions Crudely, increase in area and productivity can be two major options to increase the agricultural output. Quality seeds (Improving seed replacement rate). Focus on irrigation along with adequate resource building (‘Per Drop More Crop’). Soil-test based nutrient management (Distribution of soil health cards). Opting normal sowing (to take the advantage of the weather anomalies). Pulses as a candidate crop (Pulses in a crop rotation can scale the per unit productivity, diminish the cost of production). Adopting the recommended package of practices (region specific). Supplementing soil with micro-nutrients (like Mn, S, Zn and Fe; if deficient). Use of more bio-fertilizers, vermi-compost and FYM in addition to chemical fertilizers. Post-harvest crop losses (Large investments in warehousing and cold chains). Diversification towards high value crops (Introduction, adaptation and acceptance of new varieties as well as new and upcoming production technologies). Crop protection chemicals are used during both pre-sowing & sowing, post sowing stages of farming. Food crops must compete with 30,000 species of weeds, 3,000 species of nematodes and 10,000 species of plant-eating insects. We know that despite the use of modern crop protection products 20-40% of potential food production is still lost every year to pests. To increase crop yields, continuous improvement of agricultural technologies is required to minimize crop losses. INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT (IPM) Prevention:- Prevention can be done through- Location of crops (best suited to climate, soil, topography) Selection of crop variety (choosing beneficial crop varieties) Crop planting and rotation Soil management Water management Monitoring:- Tools like- pheromone traps, diagnostics and forecasting systems can assist in monitoring. Geographic information systems and remote-sensing techniques can also assist in area wide management. Intervention:- Intervention can be done through- Cultural and physical methods Biolo