Lok Sabha Question No. 5412 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-04-05
Subject: Increase in Farm Income
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Sisir Kumar Adhikari

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  5412

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 5 th  APRIL, 2022

## INCREASE IN FARM INCOME

## 5412.  SHRI SISIR KUMAR ADHIKARI:

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

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether it is a fact that the official data for the period 2017 to 2022 found that farmers'  nominal  incomes  have  increased  by  a  mere  59%  as  against  the promised doubling of farmers income by 2022;
- (b) if so, the details of the report, State-wise and the reason therefor;
- (c) whether the Government intends to deliver upon the commitment of doubling farmers' income; and
- (d) if so, the details and timelines thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

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

(a  to  d)  :    The  Situation  Assessment  Survey  (SAS)  is  carried  out  by  the  National Statistical Organization (NSO) at certain intervals only. 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/-. State-wise details of the monthly Agriculture Household Income is at Annexure-I .

Agriculture  being  a  State  Subject,  the  State  Governments  take  appropriate measures for development of agriculture in the State. However, Government of India supplements the efforts of States through appropriate policy measures and budgetary support and various schemes/ programmes. The various schemes/ programmes of the Government  of  India  are  meant  for  the  welfare  of  farmers  by  increasing  production, remunerative returns and income support to farmers.

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 such as creating Corpus Funds like Micro Irrigation Fund etc. There have been several reforms to unleash the potential, e.g. Formation and Promotion of 10,000  FPOs  along  with  necessary  financial  support  under  Atma  Nirbhar  Package (Agriculture). Under Atma Nirbhar Bharat special attention is being paid for creation of infrastructure for which ' Agri Infrastructure Fund (AIF) has been created  with a size of Rs.  100,000  crore.  Other  special  initiatives  include  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, 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.  The  adoption of  Drone technologies  in  agriculture  has  a  potential  to  revolutionize  the  Indian  agriculture.   In order  to  make Drone  technology  affordable  to  the  farmers  and  other  stakeholders  of this  sector,  financial  assistance  @  100  %  cost  of  drone  together  with  the  continent expenditure is extended to ICAR/SAU/ State governments/ State government Institutions under Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) for its demonstration on the farmer's fields. A list of achievements is at Annexure-II .

State/UT-wise Monthly Agricultural Household Income

|                     | Monthly agriculture households' income (Rs.)   |
|---------------------|------------------------------------------------|
| States/Group of UTs | 2018-19*                                       |
| Andhra Pradesh      | 10480                                          |
| Arunachal Pradesh   | 19225                                          |
| Assam               | 10675                                          |
| Bihar               | 7542                                           |
| Chhattisgarh        | 9677                                           |
| Gujarat             | 12631                                          |
| Haryana             | 22841                                          |
| Himachal Pradesh    | 12153                                          |
| Jammu & Kashmir     | 18918                                          |
| Jharkhand           | 4895                                           |
| Karnataka           | 13441                                          |
| Kerala              | 17915                                          |
| Madhya Pradesh      | 8339                                           |
| Maharashtra         | 11492                                          |
| Manipur             | 11227                                          |
| Meghalaya           | 29348                                          |
| Mizoram             | 17964                                          |
| Nagaland            | 9877                                           |
| Odisha              | 5112                                           |
| Punjab              | 26701                                          |
| Rajasthan           | 12520                                          |
| Sikkim              | 12447                                          |
| Tamil Nadu          | 11924                                          |
| Telangana           | 9403                                           |
| Tripura             | 9918                                           |
| Uttarakhand         | 13552                                          |
| Uttar Pradesh       | 8061                                           |
| West Bengal         | 6762                                           |
| Group of UTs        | 18511                                          |
| All India           | 10218                                          |

## Achievements:

## (i) 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 crore in 2021-22.

## (ii) Record food grains and horticulture production

Food grain production has increased from 265.05 million tonnes in 2013-14 to record 305.43 million tonnes in 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  (2nd advance Estimate) which is the highest ever for Indian horticulture.

## (iii) 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. 1940 per quintal in 2021-22 from Rs. 1310 per quintal in 2013-14 marking an increase of 48%.
- MSP for Wheat increased from Rs. 1400 per quintal in 2013-14 to Rs. 2015 per quintal in 2021-22.

## (iv) 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  installments.  A  total  of  Rs.  1.8  lakh  crores  have  been released so far to more than 11.7 crore farmer families.

## (v) Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (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  -  29.29  crore  farmer  applicants  enrolled  and  over  8.99  crore (Provisional)  farmer  applicants  have  received  claims  of  over  Rs.  103903  crore. During this period nearly Rs. 21448 crore were paid by farmers as their share of premium against which claims of over Rs.103903 crore (Provisional) have paid to them. Thus for every 100 rupees of premium paid by farmers, they have received Rs. 484 as claims.

## (vi) 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, 270.29 lakh new KCC have been issued with sanctioned amount of Rs.2,88,832 crore.'

## (vii) 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.

## (viii) Promotion of organic farming in the country

- Paramparagat Krishi VikasYojana (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  Namami  Gange 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 1.55 lakh farmers and covering 1,55,495 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 Jaivik kheti portal has been initiated  to  assist  the  small  and  marginal  famers  in  selling  their  organic  products directly to consumers. As of now, around 5.56 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  14445  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.

## (ix) 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.

## (x) 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 7300 projects.  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.

## (xi) 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.
- (xii) 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 2020-2021 to 2022-2023 has been allocated for the sector.
- (xiii) Per Drop More Crop component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY-PDMC)

Per  Drop  More  Crop  component  of  Pradhanmantri  Krishi  Sinchai  Yojana (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 2019-20 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. 779.18 crore released to States so far.

## (xiv) 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.

## (xv) Agricultural Mechanization

Agricultural mechanization is extremely vital to modernize agriculture and reduce drudgery of farming operations.  During the period from 2014-15 to 202122 (as on 31.12.2021) an amount of Rs. 5130.61 crore have been allocated for agricultural  mechanization.  13,78,755  numbers  of  machines  and  equipments have been provided to farmers on subsidy.   16,007 custom hiring centers, 378 high-tech hubs and 16,064 farm machinery banks have been established.

During the period from 2018-19 to 2021-22 (as on 31.12.2021), an amount of Rs. 2440.07 crore have been released to the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, NCT of Delhi and ICAR for crop residue management. 39,398 Custom Hiring  Centers  (CHCs)  of  crop  residue  management  machines  have  been established in these States and a total of more than 2.00 lakh machines have been supplied to these established CHCs and individual farmers of these four States.

## (xvi) National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) scheme

-  In 18 states and 03 UTs, 1000 markets have already been integrated with the eNAM Platform.
-  As  on  05.01.2022,  total  volume  of  5.27  crore  MT  &  11.68  crore  numbers (Bamboo, Betel Leaves, Coconut, Lemon & Sweet corn) with collective worth of approximately  Rs.  1.68  lakh  crore  of  trade  has  been  recorded  on  e-NAM platform. Till date, more than 1.72 crore farmers have been registered on e-NAM platform

## (xvii) Promotion of Agri Start up

799  start-ups  in  the  agriculture  and  allied  sectors  have  been  selected  for funding of  a sum of Rs. 86.64 crore in instalments and Rs. 37.90 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)  &  RKVY-RAFTAAR  Agribusiness  Incubators (RABIs).

## (xviii) Procurement

The details of procurement made for Paddy, Wheat, Oilseed and Pulses for the years 2009-2014 and  2014-2021  in  quantitative  terms  (in  LMT)  and  in  value  terms  (in  Rs. crore) is as under

|                   | 2009-2014                   | 2009-2014                | 2014-2022                   | 2014-2022                |
|-------------------|-----------------------------|--------------------------|-----------------------------|--------------------------|
| Commodity         | Quantity Procured (in LMTs) | MSP Value (Rs. in crore) | Quantity Procured (in LMTs) | MSP Value (Rs. in crore) |
| Paddy             | 1673.56                     | 289140.19                | 3492.79                     | 891557.04                |
| Wheat             | 1395.18                     | 168283.34                | 2622.69                     | 450789.82                |
| Oilseed and Copra | 5.72                        | 2459.98                  | 61.06                       | 27499.54                 |
| Pulse             | 1.52                        | 644.83                   | 109.64                      | 54959.92                 |

## (xix) Promoting Use of Drones in Agriculture

-  The  adoption  of  Drone  technologies  in  agriculture  have  a  potential  to revolutionize  the  Indian  agriculture  and  ensure  country's  food  security. Accordingly, looking into the unique advantages of Drone technologies in agriculture, the Department  of Agriculture & Farmers  Welfare has released the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for use of drones in pesticide  and  nutrient  application  in  public  domain  21.12.2021,  which provide concise instructions for effective and safe operations of drones.
-  In  order  to  make  this  technology  affordable  to  the  farmers  and  other stakeholders of this sector, financial assistance @ 100 % cost  of drone together with the contingent expenditure is extended to ICAR/SAU/ State governments/ State government Institutions under Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) for its demonstration on the farmer's fields. In order to provide agricultural services through drone application, financial assistance @ 40% of the basic cost of drone and its attachments or  Rs.4  lakhs,  whichever  less  is  also  provided  for  drone  purchase  by existing  and  new  Custom  Hiring  Centers  (CHCs)  under  Cooperative Society  of  Farmers,  FPOs and  Rural  entrepreneurs.  The  agriculture graduates establishing CHCs are eligible  to  receive  financial  assistance @ 50% or up to Rs.5 lakhs.

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