Lok Sabha Question No. 50 (STARRED), answered on 2018-02-06
Subject: Doubling of Farmers’ Income
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: SAUGATA ROY, RAMACHANDRAN MULLAPPALLY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION & FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 50

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 6 TH  FEBRUARY, 2018

## DOUBLING OF FARMERS' INCOME

- *50.     PROF. SAUGATA ROY: SHRI MULLAPPALLY RAMACHANDRAN:

Will  the  Minister  of  AGRICULTURE  AND  FARMERS  WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण ½ãâ¨ããè be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has set a goal for doubling the farmers' income by 2022 and the NITI Aayog has proposed a pilot project in this regard, if so, the details thereof and the action taken by the Government to attain this goal;
- (b) whether any assessment of the rise in the income of farmers has been done during the last four years and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  the  Government  is  considering  to  fix  the  Minimum  Support  Price  for  all  the agricultural produce to ensure income security for the farmers and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether  the  Government  has  taken  any  steps  for  poor  farmers  in  rural  areas  in  the country and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) whether the fragmentation of farm land causes loss to the agriculture sector and if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken by the Government to promote group farming amongst the farmers in the country?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण ½ãâ¨ããè

(SHRI RADHA MOHAN SINGH)

- (a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF  LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.  50  DUE FOR REPLY ON 6 TH  FEBRUARY, 2018.

- (a): Yes,  Madam. The Government has set a goal for  doubling the farmers'  income  by 2022. The NITI Aayog has constituted a Task Force for demonstrating doubling of farmers income through new business models and relieving farmers' distress.

The Central Government is working appropriately to achieve the target of doubling the income  of  farmers  by  2022.  For  this  purpose,  the  Government  has  constituted  an  InterMinisterial  Committee  on  13.04.2016  under  the  Chairmanship  of  Chief  Executive  Officer, National  Rainfed  Area  Authority,  Department  of  Agriculture,  Cooperation  and  Farmers Welfare to examine issues relating to doubling of farmers' income and recommend a strategy to achieve the same by the year 2022. Alongside working on a comprehensive strategy, the Committee has been parallelly suggesting various intervention for consideration. In order to involve  the  stakeholders  across  the  country  in  finalizing  the  strategy,  the  Committee  has been placing its reports in installments. As of now, nine Volumes of the draft Report prepared by the Committee have been uploaded on the website of this Department (http://agricoop.nic.in/doubling-farmers) for seeking public opinion. Some of the recommendations  of  the  Committee  are  parallelly  being  implemented.  They  include  the following:

- i. A comprehensive State Market Act to introduce reforms and competition for creating a competitive price discovery environment. Following this A Model State/UT Agricultural Produce  and  Livestock  Marketing  (Promotion  &  Facilitation)  Act,  2017  has  been drafted, approved and shared with the States.
- ii. A Model Contract Farming Act is now at the final stage to help farmers enter into preseason price agreement on their produce.

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- iii.   Restructuring  of  Directorate  of  Marketing  &  Inspection  (DMI),  so  as  to  provide technology backstopping to a system for price and demand forecast.
- iv.   A  five  year  Roadmap  for  Pulses  Production  and  achieve  a  production  status  of  24 million MTs.
- v. A comprehensive roadmap for increasing the production of oilseeds in the country.
- vi. Rashtriya  Krishi  Vikas  Yojna  (RKVY)  scheme  has  been  approved  for  continuation for three years as  Remunerative Approaches  for Agriculture & Allied Sector Rejuvenation i.e.  (RKVY-RAFTAAR)  which  aims  at  making  the  farming  as a remunerative economic activity through multi pronged approach along with holistic  development of agriculture and allied sector. The new Guidelines provide for major allocation for creation of production and post-production infrastructure, beside promoting agri-enterprises and incubation facilities.
- vii.  An  institutional  mechanism  at  State  and  District  levels  to  undertake  integrated  and comprehensive review of agriculture and allied activities and farmers welfare.
- viii. Computerization  of  Primary  agriculture  cooperative  societies  (PACSs)-  A  budgeting provision has been made to computerize all the PACSs in a period of 3 years (201718 to 2019-20).
- ix.  A new market architecture under which 22,000 rural haats to be upgraded as centers of aggregation and direct sell-purchase of agri-commodities.

The  Government  is  aiming  to  reorient  the  agriculture  sector  by  making  it  incomecentric  rather  than  purely  a  production-centric  activity.  A  farmer's  income  is  a  basket  of earnings from agriculture (including horticulture), allied activities like dairy, livestock, poultry, fishery  etc.  and  ancillary  activities  like  beekeeping  etc.  Apart  from  these farm  incomes, he also  earns  from  other  activities  like  wage  labour,  off-farm  activities  etc.    Earnings  from agriculture constitute the principal source of income of a farmer.

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(b):      The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) conducted 'Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) of Agricultural Households' during NSS 70 th round (January 2013- December 2013) in the rural areas of the country with reference to the agricultural year July 2012- June 2013. The survey estimated the average monthly income per agricultural household as Rs.6426/-. There has been no further assessment of the farmers income thereafter (2013-14 to 201718).

(c):      The Government fixes Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for 22 major agricultural crops to  ensure  remunerative  prices  for  farmers  on  the  recommendation  of  Commission  for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP) and in addition, MSP for Toria and De-husked coconut is also  fixed  on  the  basis  of  MSPs  of  Rapeseed/Mustard  and  Copra  respectively.    While formulating its recommendations on price policy, CACP considers cost of production, trend in market prices, demand and supply situation, effect on general price level, effect on cost of living  etc.  However, farmers are free to sell their produce to the Government Procurement Agencies at MSP or in the open market as is advantageous to them.

The Government also undertakes procurement of paddy & wheat at Minimum Support Price (MSP) through Food Corporation of India (FCI). In addition, procurement of oilseeds, pulses and cotton are undertaken by central agencies at MSP under Price Support Scheme (PSS)  at  the  request  of  the  concerned  State  Government  which  agrees  to  exempt  the procured commodities from levy of mandi tax and assist central nodal agencies in logistic arrangements.

Government also implements the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) for procurement of agriculture & horticulture products,   which are      perishable in nature and are not covered

under PSS on the request of States/ UT Government. The MIS is implemented in order to protect the growers of these commodities from making distress sale in the event of bumper crop when the prices tend to fall below the economic level/cost of production.

(d):       At  present,  the  Government  is  implementing  various  schemes  to  synchronise  with higher gains for the farmers. Details are as follows:-

-  For higher production through productivity gains
- o National  Food  Security  Mission  (NFSM)-  cereals,  pulses,  oilseeds,  nutri-rich cereals, commercial crops
- o Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH)- high growth rate of horticulture crops.
-  For reduction in cost of cultivation
- o Soil  Health  Card  (SHC)  (2  year  cycle)-  ensure  judicious  use  of  fertilizer application and thus save money of farmers.
- o Neem Coated  Urea  (NCU)  (universal)-  is  being  promoted  to  regulate  use  of urea, enhance availability  of  nitrogen  to  the  crop  and  reduce  cost  of  fertilizer application
- o The Pradhan  Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY)  -  micro irrigation component (1.2 million ha/yr target)- with the motto of 'Har Khet Ko Paani' for providing  end-to-end  solutions  in  irrigation  supply  chain,  comprising  water sources, distribution network and farm level applications.
-  To ensure remunerative returns
- o National Agriculture Market Scheme (E-NAM) is an innovative market process to revolutionize agri-markets by ensuring better price discovery, bringing in

transparency and competition to enable farmers to get improved remuneration for their produce moving towards 'One Nation One Market'

- o A new model 'The Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2017' has been released on 24th April, 2017 for its adoption by States/UTs.  This  has  been  derived  after  many  deliberations  over  the  earlier model  APMC  Act  2003  and  the  need  for  inclusion  of  progressive  reforms required  in  the  agriculture  marketing  sector.    In  the  Model  APLM  Act,  2017, provisions    includes  setting  up  of  private  markets,  direct  marketing,  farmerconsumer markets, special commodity markets, declaring warehouses/silos/cold  storages  or  such  structures  as  market  sub  yards.  The model Act is in different stages of adoption by various states.
- o Warehousing and post-harvest loans at concessional rate of interest so as to discourage  distress  sale  by  farmers  and  to  encourage  them  to  store  their produce in warehouses against negotiable receipts.
- o Minimum Support Price (MSP) is notified by the Government for certain crops.
- o Procurement of oilseeds, pulses and cotton are undertaken by central agencies at  MSP  under  Price  Support  Scheme  (PSS)  at  the  request  of  the  concerned State Government.
- o Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) for procurement of agriculture & horticulture products, which are perishable in nature and are not covered under PSS.
-  For risk management and sustainable practices
- o Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) & Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWCIS) (cover 50% GCA by 2018-19)- provides

-6- insurance cover at all stages of the crop cycle including post-harvest risks in specified instances and available to the farmers at very low rates of premium.

- o Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)- is being implemented with a view to promote  organic  farming  in  the  country.    This  will  improve  soil  health  and organic matter content and increase net income of the farmer
- o Mission organic Farming in North-East- MoVCD (NE)- Realizing the potential of organic farming in the North Eastern Region of the country.
- o Allied activities as follows:

'Har Medh Par Ped' launched during 2016-17 to encourage tree plantation on farm  land  '  Har  Medh  Par  Ped',  along  with  crops/  cropping  system.  The scheme  is  being  implemented  in  the  states  those  have  notified  liberalized transit  regulations  for  transport  of  timber.  Implementation  of  the  scheme  has been  started  in  8  States  and  during  2016-17  and  in  12  more  States  during 2017-18  after  notifying  liberalized  transit  regulations.  Other  States  are  also being motivated to notify liberalized transit regulations. Agroforestry will not only help in increasing soil organic carbon but also in creating additional source of income to farmers.

Bee-Keeping:  During  the  last  3  year  (2014-15  and  2016-17)  the  number  of honey  bee  colonies  that  were  20  lacs  in  2014-15  have  increased  to  30  lacs during 2016-17, registering an increase of 10 lacs. Honey production in 201114  was  2,18,950  metric  tons  which  has  increased  to  2,63,930  metric  tons during 2014-17 i.e an increase of  20.54%.

Dairying: Dairy sector is being promoted through schemes like Rashtriya Gokul Mission,  National  Bovine  Productivity  Mission  and  various  dairy  development related projects are being implemented.

Fisheries: Foreseeing high potential in fisheries sector, a Blue Revolution with multi dimensional activities mainly focusing on fisheries production, both inland and marine is being implemented.

(e): Due to rising demand of land for non-agricultural uses, there is  decline of about 10 lakh hectares, as agricultural land has been diverted to non-agricultural uses since 2004-05. The  Government  is  promoting  group  farming  amongst  the  farmers.  Small  and  marginal farmers  are  mobilized  to  form  Farmer  Producer  Organizations  (FPOs)  /  Farmer  Interest Group  (FIG)  for  aggregation  and  economies  of  scale.  FPOs  are  eligible  for  financial assistance  under  MIDH,  NFSM  etc.  Further,  Small  Farmers'  Agribusiness  Consortium (SFAC) has registered 706 Farmers Producers Companies in various States.

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