Lok Sabha Question No. 457 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-11-30
Subject: Doubling of Farmers Income
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: V. Kalanidhi, Raghu Ramakrishna Raju Kanumuru, Adoor Prakash

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  457

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 30 TH  NOVEMBER, 2021

## DOUBLING OF FARMERS INCOME

457.   DR. KALANIDHI VEERASWAMY: SHRI KANUMURU RAGHU RAMA KRISHNA RAJU: ADV. ADOOR PRAKASH:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

- (a) the  present  status  of  the  Government's  plan  to  double  farmers'  income  by  2022 including details of the target set and achievements made so far;
- (b) whether  the  Government  has  conducted  any  annual  survey  to  measure  farm  and farmers'  income  within  the  country,  if  so,  the  details  thereof  including  the  last  survey  of farmers' income;
- (c) whether the committee formed on doubling farmers income has submitted its report and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to overcome the challenges of low agricultural  remuneration,  impact  of  the  COVID-19  pandemic  on agriculture  and  rising  prices  of  agricultural  inputs  including  diesel  which  may  hinder  the Government's plan to double farmers income; and
- (e) the steps taken by the Government with regard to increasing the role of exports in doubling the farmers' income?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

- (a) to (c): The Government constituted  an  Inter-Ministerial  Committee  in  April,  2016  to examine  issues  relating  to  'Doubling  of  Farmers  Income'  and  recommend  strategies  to achieve the same.  The Committee submitted its Report to the Government in September, 2018  containing  the  strategy  for  doubling  of  farmers'  income  recognising  agriculture  as

value led enterprise and has identified seven major sources of growth viz., (I) improvement in crop productivity; (II) improvement in livestock productivity; (III) resource use efficiency or savings in the cost  of production; (IV) increase in the cropping intensity;(V) diversification towards high value crops; (VI) improvement in real prices received by farmers; and (VII) shift from farm to non-farm occupations. After acceptance of the DFI Committee recommendations,  the  Government  has  constituted  an  'Empowered  Body'  to  review  and monitor the progress.

The  Government  has  adopted several developmental programmes,  schemes, reforms  and  policies  that  focus  on  higher  incomes  for  the  farmers.  All  these  policies  & programmes are being supported by higher budgetary allocations, non-budgetary financial resources by way of creating Corpus Funds like Micro Irrigation Fund etc. There have been several  reforms  to  unleash  the  potential,  e.g.  Promotion  of  10,000  FPOs  along  with necessary  financial  support  under  AtmaNirbhar  Package  (Agriculture)and  Supplementary Income transfers under PM-KISAN; Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY); Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY); Increase in Minimum Support Price (MSPs) for all Kharif  &  Rabi  Crops  ensuring  a  minimum  of  50  percent  of  profit  margin  on  the  cost  of production  to  provide  remunerative  price  to  farmers;  Har  Med  Par  Ped;  Bee-Keeping; Rashtriya Gokul Mission; Blue Revolution; Interest Subvention Scheme; Kisan Credit Card (KCC) that now offers production loan to even dairy & fishery farmers besides agricultural crops etc. A list of achievement is at Annexure .

The last available  estimates on  income  of  agricultural  household  are based on the Situation  Assessment  Survey  of  Agricultural  Households  conducted  by  National  Sample Survey Office (NSSO) during 77 th round  (January  - December 2019).  As per the survey results,  the  average  monthly  income  per  agricultural  household  from  all  sources  was estimated to be. Rs. 10218/-.

(d): Providing of PM-KISAN Scheme benefits under which Rs.6000 is provided to farmers in  three  equal  instalments,    free  of  cost  food  grains  to  farmers  under  PMGKY  scheme, launch  of  Kisan  Rath  app,  increase  of  procurement  centres  of  paddy,  direct  marketing facility to Kisan, operationlisation of e-NAM mandis, launch of Kisan Rail/KisanUdaan etc.

(e): The  Government  has  adopted several developmental programmes,  schemes, reforms and policies that focus on higher incomes for the farmers in which enhancement of agri exports is one of the focused action. Agriculture exports help farmers to take advantage of  wider  international  market  which  translates  into  increase  income  for  the  farmers.  To harness export potential of Indian agriculture, the Government is implementing Agriculture Export  Policy  ,  2018  which  inter-alia  envisages  promotion  of  clusters  of  various  agri commodities with potential for export.

## ACHIEVEMENTS

## 1.  Unprecedented enhancement in budget allocation

In the year 2013-14, the Budget allocation for Department of Agriculture was only Rs. 21933.50 crore. This has been increased by more than 5.5 times to Rs. 1,23017.57 crorein 2021-22.

## 2.  Record food grains and horticulture production

Food grain production has increased from 265.05 million tonnes in 2013-14 to record 305.43 million tonnesin 2020-21 (Third advance estimate) which is the highest ever food grain production. Horticulture production has increased from 280.99 million  tonnes in 2014-15 to  320.48  million  tonnes  in  2020-21 (2 nd advance Estimate) which is the highest ever for Indian horticulture.

3.  Fixing of MSP at one-and-a half times the cost of production -
- Government has increased the MSP for all mandated Kharif, Rabi and other commercial crops with a return of at least 50 per cent over all India weighted average cost of production from 2018-19.
- MSP for Paddy has increased to Rs. 1868 per quintal in 2020-21 from Rs. 1310 per quintal in 2013-14 marking an increase of 43%.
- MSP for Wheat increased from Rs. 1400 per quintal in 2013-14 to Rs. 1975 per quintal in 2020-21.

## 4.  Income support to farmers through PM KISAN

Launch of PM-KISAN in 2019 -an income support scheme providing Rs. 6000 per year in 3 equal instalments. A total of Rs. 1,6 lakh crores have been released so far to more than 11.5 crore farmer families .

## 5.  Pradhan MantriFasalBimaYojana (PMFBY)

PMFBY  was  launched  in  2016  addressing  problems  of  high  premium rates for farmers and reduction in sum insured due to capping. In past 5 Years of implementation  -  29.22  crore  farmer  applicants  enrolled  and  over  8.83  crore (Provisional) farmer applicants have received claims of over Rs. 101875 crore. During this period nearly Rs. 21450 crore were paid by farmers as their share of premium against which claims of over Rs.101875 crore (Provisional) have paid to  them.  Thus  for  every  100  rupees  of  premium  paid  by  farmers,  they  have received Rs. 475 as claims.

## 6. Institutional credit for agriculture sector

-  Increased from Rs.7.3 lakh crore in 2013-14 with a target to reach Rs. 16.5

lakh crore in 2021-22.

-  Benefit  of  concessional  institutional  credit  through  KCC  at  4%  interest  per annum  has  also  now  been  extended  to  Animal  Husbandry  and  Fisheries farmers for meeting their short-term working capital needs.
-  A  special  drive  has  been  undertaken  since  February  2020  to  provide concessional institutional credit with focus on covering all  PM-KISAN beneficiaries  through  Kisan  Credit  Cards  (KCC).  Till  date,  260.60  lakh  new KCC have been issued with sanctioned amount of Rs.2,76,780 crore.'

## 7.  Providing Soil Health Cards to farmers

Soil  Health  Card  Scheme  was  introduced  in  the  year  2014-15  to  optimize usage of nutrients. Soil health cards have been issued free of cost to nearly 11 crore farmers under a nationwide program.

## 8. Promotion of organic farming in the country

- ParamparagatKrishiVikasYojana (PKVY) was initiated in 2015-16 to promote organic farming in the country. Two-year achievement under PKVY scheme19043  clusters  have  been  formed  and  an  area  of  3.81  lakh  ha  has  been covered  benefitting  9.52  lakh  farmers.  In  addition,  under  NamamiGange Programme 123620 ha area covered and under natural farming 4.09 lakh ha area covered.
- Mission Organic Value Chain Development in North East Region (MOVCDNER) has been launched. 170 Farmer Producer Companies have been formed comprising of 1.53 lakh farmers and covering 1.55 lakh ha area.
-  In addition, to facilitate organic certification at affordable cost and easy to adopt approaches, a New Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) certification was launched during 2015. This PGS system is unique in the world and is the largest participatory organic certification programme in the world. Around 11 lakh small and marginal farmers are certified under PGS certification. A Jaivikkheti portal has been initiated to assist the small and marginal famers in selling their organic products directly to consumers. As of now, around 5.26 lakh farmers are registered on the portal. In addition, quick  certification  of  default  organic  areas  such  as  islands,  remote,  hilly areas have been initiated under the Large Area Certification programme. This  will  enable  small  farmers  to  market  certified  products  immediately without waiting for the normal certification period of 3 years. Around 14000 ha  in  Car  Nicobar  Islands  of  the  Andamans  is  now  certified  under  the programme  helping  marginal  farmers  in  the  area  for  marketing  certified products. Proposal of 5000 ha area has been received from Ladakh under LAC and fund Rs 11.475 lakh has been released. The entire cultivable land of 2700 ha area of Lakshadweep have been certified organic under Large

area  certification.  Support  for  individual  farmers  for  certification  has  also been introduced to encourage farmers to take up organic farming.

## 9.  Neem Coating of Urea

Neem Coated Urea has been introduced since 2015-16 to ensure long availability of nutrients in the soil by slow release of nitrogen. It has also helped in curtailing diversion of urea for non- agricultural activities.

## 10.  Agri Infrastructure Fund (AIF)

Within  a  year  of  the  launch  of  AIF,  the  scheme  mobilized  Rs.7700  Crore worth  agriculture  infrastructure  in  the  country  for  more  than  7300projects. With  the  support  of  the  scheme,  various  agriculture  infrastructure  was created  and  some  of  the  infrastructure  is  at  the  final  stage  of  completion. This  infrastructure  includes  3898  warehouses,  155  assaying  units,  136 primary processing units, 135 sorting & grading units, 20 smart & precision agriculture projects and around 3000 other kind of post-harvest management projects and community farming assets.

## 11.  Promotion of FPOs

-  Scheme for Formation and Promotion of 10,000 FPOs launched with a total budgetary provision of Rs. 6865 Crore in February 2020.
-  So  far,  more  than  4965  FPO  produce  clusters  have  been  allocated  to respective Implementing Agencies (IAs).
-  Cluster Based Business Organizations (CBBOs) have been empanelled by different IAs and already allocated blocks to them.
-  At  national  level,  a  National  Project  Management  Agency  (NPMA)  is engaged for providing overall project guidance, data maintenance through integrated portal and information management and monitoring.
12. A National Bee and Honey Mission (NBHM) has been launched in 2020 as part  of  the  AtmaNirbhar  Bharat  Abhiyan.  Rs.500  crore  for  the  period  20202021 to 2022-2023 has been allocated for the sector.

## 13.  Per Drop More Crop component of Pradhan MantriKrishiSinchaiYojana (PMKSY-PDMC)

Per Drop More Crop component  of PradhanmantriKrishiSinchaiYojana (PMKSY\_PDMC)  aims  to  increase  water  use  efficiency  at  the  farm  level through Micro Irrigation technologies, i.e., drip and sprinkler irrigation systems.   Under  the  scheme  an area  of  20.39  lakh  hectare  has  been covered  and  about  16  lakh  farmers  were  benefited  under  micro-irrigation during  2019-20  &  2020  -  21.  An  amount  of  Rs.  5262.20  crore  has  been provided to states as central assistance under PMKSY-PDMC during 201920  and  2020-21.    For  the  year  2021-22,  an  amount  of  Rs.  4000.00  crore (B.E.) has been allocated for implementation of the scheme and an amount of Rs. 351.50 crore released to States so far.

## 14.  Micro Irrigation Fund

A Micro Irrigation Fund of Rs 5000 crore has been placed with NABARD.  In the  Budget  for  2021-22  the  corpus  of  the  fund  has  been  increased  to Rs.1000 crores. Projects worth Rs 3970.17 crore covering 12.83 lakh hectares have been approved.

## 15.  Agricultural Mechanization

Agricultural  mechanization  is  extremely  vital  to  modernize  agriculture and reduce drudgery of farming operations.  During the period from 2014-15 to  2021-22  (as  on  31.10.2021)  an  amount  of  Rs. 4878.31 crore  have  been allocated for agricultural mechanization. 13,24,745 numbers of machines and equipments have been provided to farmers on subsidy.   15,390 custom hiring centers,  352  high-tech  hubs  and  14,489  farm  machinery  banks  have  been established.

During  the  period  from  2018-19  to 2021-22  (as  on  31.10.2021),  an amount  of  Rs.  2439.05  crore  have  been  released  to  the  States  of  Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, NCT of Delhi and ICAR for crop residue management. 31384 Custom Hiring Centers (CHCs) of crop residue management machines have been established in these States and a total of more than 1.64 lakh machines have been supplied to these established CHCs and individual farmers of these four States.

## 16.   National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) scheme

-  In 18 states and 03 UTs, 1000 markets have already been integrated with the E-NAM  Platform.  As  per  Budget  2021-22  announcement,  another  1000 mandis will be integrated with e-NAM.
-  As  of  24.11.2021,  total  volume  of  4.99  crore  MT  &  10.57  crore  numbers (Bamboo, Betel Leaves, Coconut, Lemon & Sweet corn) with collective worth of  approximately Rs. 1.57 lakh crore of trade has been recorded on e-NAM platform.  So  far,  more  than  1.72  crore  farmers  and  2.04  lakh  traders  have been registered with e-NAM platform

## 17. Creation of a Start-up Eco system in agriculture and allied sector

646 start-ups in the agriculture and allied sectors have been selected (till 31 March 2021) for funding of a sum of Rs. 69.92 crore in instalments and Rs. 33.94  crore  have  been  released  to  respective  KPs  and  RABIs  for  funding these  start-ups.  These  start-ups  were  trained  for  two  months  at  various agribusiness  incubation  centres  i.e.  Knowledge  Partners  (KPs)  &RKVYRAFTAAR Agribusiness Incubators (RABIs).

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