Question : Income of Farmer

(a) whether the income from farming is insufficient or meagre for most of the farmers;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto;

(c) whether climate change is one of the major reasons for insufficient/meagre income of the farmers and if so, the details thereof;

(d) whether the farmers are moving towards other professions due to non-profitability of agriculture in the country and if so, the details thereof, State-wise

(e) whether Swaminathan committee has given any suggestion/recommendation to ameliorate the financial condition of farmers and if so, the details thereof; and

(f) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to make farming a profitable profession and to increase the income of the farmers during the last three years?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

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(a) to (c): According to the “Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households” conducted by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) in 2013, the average monthly income per agricultural household from various sources is estimated to be Rs. 6426. Moreover, as per the survey results, the average monthly receipts from crop production per agricultural household exceeded their average monthly paid out expenses by Rs. 3350 for selected crops.
The survey has not specified any reason for the low income of farmers.
(d): As per the Census conducted by the Registrar General of India, the total number of agricultural workers in the country, comprising of cultivators and agricultural labourers, have increased from 234.1 million (127.3 million cultivators and 106.8 million agricultural labourers) in 2001 to 263.1 million (118.8 million cultivators and 144.3 million agricultural labourers) in 2011. State/UT-wise details of number of cultivators and agricultural labourers as per Census 2001 and 2011 is given in the Annexure.
Contd…2/-

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(e): The National Commission on Farmers (NCF) headed by Dr. M. S. Swaminathan has made several recommendations for improving the financial conditions of farmers in 2006, which have been incorporated in the ‘National Policy for Farmers, 2007’ (NPF 2007).

The Policy provisions in NPF-2007 include, inter-alia, (i) asset reforms in respect of land, water, livestock, fisheries and bio-resources; (ii) supply of good quality seeds and disease-free planting material, (iii) issue of soil health passbooks to the farmers and integrated pest management system; (iv) region and crop specific implements and machinery; (v) timely, adequate and easy reach of institutional credit at reasonable interest rates and farmer-friendly insurance instruments; (vi) support services and inputs like application of frontier technologies; (vii) use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and setting up of farm schools to revitalize agricultural extension; (viii) effective implementation of Minimum Support Price (MSP) across the country and establishing community foodgrain banks; (ix) development of agricultural market infrastructure and terminal markets for agriculture; (x) special categories of farming like organic farming and contract farming; (xi) rural non-farm employment initiative for farm households, etc.

(f): Various new schemes/ programmes are being implemented for increasing profitability in the farming sector, including, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Soil Health Card, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, Neem Coated Urea, National Agriculture Market (e-NAM), etc. The Minimum Support Prices (MSP) of major agricultural commodities have also been progressively increased to ensure remunerative price to the farmers.
Moreover, Government has constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee on 13.04.2016 to examine issues relating to doubling of farmers’ income and recommend a strategy to achieve the same by the year 2022. The Committee has so far uploaded ten Volumes of the draft Report on the website of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (http://agricoop.nic.in/doubling-farmers) for seeking public opinion.