Lok Sabha Question No. 3344 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-21
Subject: Average Household Income of Farmers
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Mimi Chakraborty

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3344

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 21 TH MARCH, 2023

## AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD INCOME OF FARMERS

3344. MS. MIMI CHAKRABORTY:

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

- (a) whether the Government proposes for doubling the farmers income as   'guaranteed income' for farmers in order to revive their economic situation in the coming years;
- (b) if so, whether the average  household  income  of farmers in the country is approximately Rs. 10,218 per month; and
- (c) if so, the manner in which the Government proposes to raise the average income of farmers  of  Jharkhand,  Odissa  and  West  Bengal  who  have  an  average  income  of  Rs. 5,590 per month thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ िष एवं कसान कयाण मंी

(SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

(a) to (c): Farmers' income is estimated through the survey conducted by NSSO. As per  last  'Situation  Assessment  Survey'  conducted  in  2012-13,  Monthly  Agricultural Household Income was estimated as Rs.6426/- which increased to Rs.10218/- as per the survey  conducted  in  2018-19  and  as  per  which  the  average  income  of  farmers  of Jharkhand, Odissa and West Bengal may be calculated as about Rs. 5,590 per month.

Agriculture  being  a  State  Subject,  the  State  Governments  take  appropriate measures for development of agriculture and welfare of farmers in the State. However, Government  of  India  supplements  the  efforts  of  States  through  appropriate  policy measures and budgetary support and various schemes/ programmes.

The efforts of the Government to double the income of farmers have yielded very positive results.  In this regard Government had constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee in  April,  2016  to  examine  issues  relating  to  'Doubling  of  Farmers  Income  (DFI)'  and recommend strategies to achieve the same.  The Committee submitted its final report to the  Government  in  September,  2018  containing  the  strategy  for  doubling  of  farmers' income through various policies, reforms & programmes.    As per the strategy, Government  has  adopted  and  implemented  several  policies,  reforms,  developmental programmes and schemes for achieving higher incomes for the farmers. These include:

## 1. Unprecedented enhancement in budget allocation

In the year 2013-14 the budget allocation of Ministry of Agriculture (including DARE) and Ministry  of  Fisheries,  Animal  Husbandry  &  Dairying  was  only  30223.88  crore.  This  has increased by more than 4.35 times to Rs. 1,31,612.41 crore in 2023-24.

## 2. 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. More than Rs. 2.24 lakh crore has been released so far to more than 11 crore farmers as of now.

## 3. Pradhan Mantri Fasal BimaYojana (PMFBY)

Six year - PMFBY was launched in 2016 addressing problems of high premium rates for farmers and reduction in sum insured due to capping. In past 6 Years of implementation 37.66  crore  farmer  applications  have  been  enrolled  and  over  12.38  crore  (Provisional) farmer applicants have received claims. During this period nearly Rs. 25,174 crore were paid  by  farmers  as  their  share  of  premium  against  which  claims  of  over  Rs.  1,30,185 crore (Provisional) have been paid to them. Thus for every 100 rupees of premium paid by farmers, they have received about Rs. 517 as claims.

## 4. Institutional credit for agriculture sector

- i. Increased from Rs. 7.3 lakh crore in 2013-14 with a target to reach Rs. 18.5 lakh crore in 2022-23.
- ii. 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.
- iii. 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). As on 30.12.2022, 389.33 lakh new KCC applications have been sanctioned with a sanctioned credit limit of Rs. 4,51,672 crore as part of the drive.

## 5. Fixing of Minimum Support Price (MSP) at one-and-a half times the cost of production -

- i. 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.
- ii. MSP for Paddy (common) has increased to Rs. 2040 per quintal in 2022-23 from Rs. 1310 per quintal in 2013-14.
- iii. MSP for Wheat increased from Rs. 1400 per quintal in 2013-14 to Rs. 2125 per quintal in 2022-23.

## 6. Promotion of organic farming in the country

- i. Paramparagat  Krishi  VikasYojana  (PKVY)  was  initiated  in  2015-16  to  promote organic farming in the country. 32,384 clusters have been formed and an area of 6.53  lakh  hectare  has  been  covered  benefitting  16.19  lakh  farmers.  In  addition, Under  Namami  Gange  Programme  1.23  lakh  hectare  area  covered  and  under natural  farming  4.09  lakh  hectare  area  covered.  Farmers  in  Uttar  Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Jharkhand have taken-up organic farming on either side of the river Ganga to control river water pollution as well as to fetch additional income to farmers.
- ii. Government  also  proposes  to  promote  sustainable  natural  farming  systems through the scheme BhartiyaPrakratikKrishiPadhati (BPKP). The proposed scheme aims at cutting down cost of cultivation, enhancing farmer's income and ensuring resource conservation and, safe and healthy soils, environment and food.
- iii. Mission  Organic  Value  Chain  Development  in  North  East  Region  (MOVCDNER) has been launched. 379 Farmer Producer Companies  have  been  formed comprising of 1,89,039 farmers and covering 1,72,966 hectare area.

## 7. Per Drop More Crop

Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) scheme was launched in the year 2015-16 which aims to increase water use efficiency, reducing cost of inputs and increasing productivity at the farm level through Micro Irrigation technologies i.e. drip and sprinkler irrigation systems. So far, an area of 72 lakh hectare has been covered under Micro irrigation through the PDMC scheme from the year 2015-16.

## 8. Micro Irrigation Fund

A Micro Irrigation Fund of initial corpus Rs 5,000 crore has been created with NABARD.   In  the  Budget  Announcement  for  2021-22,  the  corpus  of  the  fund  is  to  be increased to Rs.10,000  crore. Projects worth Rs 4,710.96 crore covering 17.09 lakh hectares have been approved.

## 9. Promotion of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs)

- i. A  new  Central  Sector  Scheme  for  Formation  &  Promotion  of  new  10,000  FPOs launched by Hon'ble Prime Minister on 29th February, 2020 with budget outlay of Rs 6865 Crore till 2027-28.
- ii. As  on  30.11.2022,  4028  no.  of  FPOs  have  been  registered  under  new  FPO scheme.
- iii. Equity  Grant  of  Rs.  65.33  Crore  has  been  released  to  1,730  FPOs  as  on 31.12.2022.
- iv. As on 31.12.2022, Credit Guarantee Cover worth Rs. 101.78 crore issued to 583 FPOs.

10. A National Beekeeping and Honey Mission (NBHM) has been launched in 2020 as  part  of  the  Atma  Nirbhar  Bharat  Abhiyan  to  increase  productivity  of  crops  through pollination  and  increase  in  honey  production  as  an  additional  source  of  income.  Rs.  500 crore for the period 2020-2021 to 2022-2023 has been allocated for beekeeping sector. 114 projects for assistance of about Rs. 139.23 crore, approved/ sanctioned for funding under NBHM during 2020-21, 2021-22 & 2022-23 till date.

## 11. Agricultural Mechanization

Agricultural  mechanization  is  an  extremely  vital  to  modernize  agriculture  and  reduce drudgery  of  farming  operations.  During  the  period  from  2014-15  to March,  2022  an amount  of  Rs.5,490.82  crore have  been  allocated for agricultural mechanization. 13,88,314  numbers  of  machines  and  equipments  have  been  provided  to  farmers  on subsidy  basis.  18,824  custom  hiring  centers,  403  high-tech  hubs  and  16,791  farm machinery  banks  have  been  established  to  make  available  agricultural  machines  and equipments to the farmers on rental basis. During the current year i.e. 2022-23, so far an amount  of  Rs.  585.50  crore  have  been  released  for  distribution  of  around  75,391 machines on subsidy, establishment of 3,468 CHCs, 64 Hi-tech hubs and 2281 Village Level Farm Machinery Banks.

## 12. Providing Soil Health Cards to farmers

Soil  Health  Card  Scheme  was  introduced  in  the  year  2014-15  to  optimize  usage  of nutrients. The following numbers of cards have been issued to farmers;

- i. Cycle-I (2015 to 2017) - 10.74 crore
- ii. Cycle-II (2017 to 2019)- 12.19 crore
- iii. Model Village Programme (2019-20)- 23.71 lakh
- iv. In the year 2020-21- 11.52 lakh

## 13. Setting up of National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) extension Platform

- i. 1260 mandis of 22 States and 03 UTs have been integrated to e-NAM platform.
- ii. As on 31.12.2022, more than 1.74 Crore Farmers & 2.39 Lakh traders have been registered on e-NAM portal.
- iii. Total  volume  of  7.07  Crore  MT  &  20.88  Crore  numbers  (bamboo,  betel  leaves, coconut, lemon & sweet corn) collectively worth approximately Rs. 2.42 lakh crore of trade has been recorded on e-NAM platform as on 31.12.2022.

14. Launch of the National Mission for Edible Oils - Oil Palm - NMEO has been approved with a total outlay of Rs 11,040 crore. This will bring an additional area of 6.5 lakh hectare under Oil Palm plantation with 3.28 lakh hectare in the north-eastern states and  3.22  lakh  hectare  in  the  rest  of  India  in  the  next  5  years.  The  major  focus  of  the Mission is to provide Viability Prices of fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) to the farmers linked with assured procurement by industry with a simpler price fixing formula.

## 15. Agri Infrastructure Fund (AIF)

Since  inception  of  AIF  in  the  year  2020,  the  scheme  has  sanctioned  an  amount  of Rs.16,117 crore worth agriculture infrastructure in the country for 22,354 projects. With the support of the scheme, various agriculture infrastructures were created and some of the infrastructure are at the final stage of completion. These infrastructures include 8,752 warehouses, 4,188 primary processing units, 2,635 custom hiring centres, 1,217 sorting & grading units, 859 cold store projects, 163 assaying units and around 4,257 other kinds of post-harvest management projects and community farming assets.

## 16. Improvement in farm produce logistics, Introduction of Kisan Rail.

Kisan Rail has been launched by Ministry of Railways to exclusively cater to movement of perishable  agrihorti  commodities.  First  Kisan  Rail  was  started  in  July  2020.  Till  31st December, 2022, 2359 services on 167 routes have been operated.

## 17. MIDH - Cluster Development Programme

The  Cluster  Development  Programme  (CDP)  is  designed  to  leverage  geographical specialisation of horticulture clusters and promote integrated and market-led development of  pre-production, production, post-harvest, logistics, branding, and marketing activities. DA&FW has identified 55 horticulture clusters, of  which 12 have been  selected for the pilot phase of the CDP.

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

So  far,  1102  Startups  during  FY  2019-20  to  2022-23  have  been  finally  selected  by different knowledge partners and agribusiness incubators of DA&FW. A total of Rs. 66.83 crore  grants-in-aid  has  been  released  for  funding  to  these  Startups  to  the  respective Knowledge  Partners  (KPs)  &  RKVY  RAFTAAR  Agri  Business  Incubator  (R-ABIs)  as grants-in-aid support by DA&FW.

## 19. Achievement in Export of Agri and Allied Agri- Commodities

The country has witnessed emphatic growth in export of agri and allied commodities. As compared to previous year 2020-21, the Agri and allied export has increased from 41.86 billion USD in 2020-21 to 50.24 billion USD in 2021-22 i.e. an increase of 19.99%.

The  efforts  of  Government  at  positive  implementation  of  these  schemes  have yielded remarkable results towards augmenting the income of the farmers. As part of the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav', Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has released a book, which contains compilation of success stories of 75,000 farmers out of innumerable successful farmers who have increased their income more than two times.

**********