Question : Measuring Farmers Income

(a) whether the Government has set a goal of doubling farmers’ income by 2022;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the progress achieved so far in attaining this goal;

(c) the total number of farmers in the country, Statewise;

(d) whether the Government has carried out any review of the rise in income of farmers in the country and if so, the details thereof;

(e) when the last survey on farmers income was conducted in the country;

(f) whether the Government has put in place any annual surveys to measure farmers‘ expenditure and farmers‘ incomes in the country;

(g) if so, details of the same including information on the current monthly farmer incomes on average in each State of India vis-à-vis their monthly expenditure; and

(h) if not, the details on how the Government intends to monitor progress and its commitment to double farmer incomes in India?

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

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(a) & (b): 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 by the year 2022.The DFI strategy as recommended by the Committee include seven sources of income 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.

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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, and supplementary income transfers under PM-KISAN. The latest major intervention includes the ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat – Agriculture package’ which includes comprehensive market reforms and creation of ‘Agricultural Infrastructure Fund (AIF)’ worth Rs. 1 lakh crore. A list of achievements of the Government is at Annexure-I.

(c): State-wise details of number of farmers in the Country, as per Agriculture Census 2015-16, are at Annexure-II.

(d) to (g): The latest available estimates on income of agricultural households are based on the ‘Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households’ conducted by National Statistical Office (NSO) during its 70th round (January 2013 –December 2013) for the reference agricultural year July 2012-June 2013. As per the survey results, the average monthly income per agricultural household from all sources was estimated to be Rs. 6,426/-.

(h): The Doubling of Farmers Income Committee submitted its report to the Government in September 2018. After acceptance of the DFI Committee recommendations, the Government has constituted an ‘Empowered Body’ to review and monitor the progress.