Lok Sabha Question No. 31 (STARRED), answered on 2022-07-19
Subject: Doubling of Farmers’ Income
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Manish Tewari

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

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.  31

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 19 th  JULY, 2022

## DOUBLING OF FARMERS' INCOME

- *31. SHRI MANISH TEWARI:

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

- (a) whether the Government in 2016 had declared that income of farmers will be doubled by 15 August, 2022; (b) if so, whether the farmers' income has doubled in the last six years; (c) whether it is a fact that the Committee on Doubling Farmers' Income using 2015-16 as base year benchmarked monthly income of farmers at Rs.8,059, doubling that would mean Rs.21,146 adjusted for inflation; (d) whether National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) 77th Round of Situation Assessment survey of Agricultural Households released in 2021 underscores farmers monthly income at only Rs. 10,218 per month; (e) the  time  by  which  the  Government  will  bring  a  law  to  provide  legal  guarantee  for MSP; and
- (f) the  reasons  for  which  the  committee  to  achieve  this  objective  has  not  been constituted so far despite the promise for the same in November, 2021?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी

- (a) to (f): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (f)  OF  THE  LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO 31 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 19.07.2022.

(a) to (d): 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. In  the  above  connection  it  is  stated  that  the  Ministry  of  Statistics  and Programme Implementation [National Statistical Office (NSO)] conducted a Situation Assessment  Survey  (SAS)  of  Agricultural  Households  during  NSS  70 th round (January 2013- December 2013) with reference to the agricultural year July  2012June  2013  and  during  NSS  77 th round  (January  2019-  December  2019)  with reference  to  the  agricultural  year  July  2018-  June  2019  in  the  rural  areas  of  the country.   From  these  surveys,  estimated  average  monthly  income  per  agricultural household as obtained from NSS 70th round (2012-13) and NSS 77th round (201819) were calculated as Rs.6426/- and Rs.10,218/- respectively. Government  has  adopted  several  developmental  programmes,  schemes, reforms and policies for achieving higher incomes for the farmers. There have been several reforms to tap the potential for income enhancement which have been able to augment of income of farmers directly or indirectly. These include: (i) Formation and promotion of 10,000 FPOs along with necessary financial support under Atma Nirbhar Package (Agriculture), (ii)  Special  attention  for  creation  of  infrastructure  through  Agri  Infrastructure  Fund (AIF) with a size of Rs. 100,000 crore, (iii) Supplementary income transfers under PM-KISAN, (iv) Crop insurance under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna  (PMFBY), (v) Better access to irrigation under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY), (vi) 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, (vii) New procurement policy under PM-AASHA in addition to FCI operations, (viii)  Kisan  Credit  Cards  (KCC)  offering  production  loan  to  even  dairy  &  fishery farmers besides agricultural crops,

(ix) National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), which aims to evolve and implement  strategies  to  make  Indian  agriculture  more  resilient  to  the  changing climate. (x) Focus on application of digital technology at all stages of agricultural value chain. (xi) Adoption of drone technologies in agriculture which has a potential to revolutionize the Indian agriculture. (xii) Benefits accruing under Bee-Keeping, Rashtriya Gokul Mission, Blue Revolution, Interest Subvention Scheme, agro-forestry, restructured bamboo mission, implementation of new generation watershed guidelines, etc The efforts of Government for positive implementation of these schemes are yielding huge results and the income of the farmers is continuously improving. It has been seen that it has more than doubled. As part of the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav', Indian Council of Agricultur al 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. (e) & (f):      There is already a mechanism to fix Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for 22 mandated agricultural crops and Fair & Remunerative Price (FRP) for sugarcane on the basis of recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP)  after  considering  the  views  of  State  Governments  and  the  concerned Central Ministries/Departments and other relevant factors. 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. Government  had  assured  formation  of  a  Committee  to  make  MSP  more effective  and  transparent,  to  promote  natural  farming  and  to  change  crop  pattern keeping in mind the changing needs of the country.  Accordingly, a Committee has been constituted consisting of representatives of farmers, Central Government, State

Governments, agricultural economists etc.

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