Relevance: GS-3: Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices;

Key Phrases: Modernizing and Rationalizing Use of Inputs, Agri Infrastructure Fund, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, Rashtriya Gokul Mission, PM-AASHA

Why in News?

• The NSS survey has shown that the average monthly income of agricultural households has increased to Rs 10,218 in 2018-19 from Rs 6,426 in 2012-13.

Key Highlights

• The government has adopted several developmental programmes, schemes, reforms and policies for achieving higher incomes for the farmers.
• This is achieved by modernizing and rationalizing use of inputs so as to decrease cost, increasing crop production, remunerative returns and income support, which have been able to augment income of farmers directly or indirectly.
• Various reforms and initiatives include:
  1. Formation and promotion of 10,000 FPOs along with necessary financial support under Atmanirbhar Package (Agriculture).
  2. Special attention for creation of infrastructure through Agri Infrastructure Fund (AIF) with a size of Rs. 100,000 crore.
  3. Supplementary income transfers under PM-KISAN.
  4. Crop insurance under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY).
  5. Better access to irrigation under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY).
  6. Increase in Minimum Support Price for all Kharif and Rabi crops ensuring a minimum of 50 per cent of profit margin on the cost of production.
  7. New procurement policy under PM-AASHA in addition to FCI operations.
  8. Kisan Credit Cards offering production loan to even dairy and fishery farmers besides agricultural crops.
  9. National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), which aims to evolve and implement strategies to make Indian agriculture more resilient to the changing climate.
  10. Focus on application of digital technology at all stages of agricultural value chain.
  11. Adoption of drone technologies in agriculture which has a potential to revolutionize the Indian agriculture.
  12. 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

Key challenges being faced by the farmers highlighted by the Survey

• Poor Coverage as well as poor implementation of schemes: The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, the Centre's flagship crop insurance scheme launched in 2016, covered only 46 per cent of the agricultural households (43 million) during the 2019 kharif season and the scheme is facing multiple implementation challenges as well.
• Decrease in income from cultivation: While the monthly income of an agricultural household has increased from Rs 6,426 in 2012-13 to Rs 10,218 in 2018-19, the share of income from cultivation has reduced and the rural households engaged in farming reduced from 57.8 per cent in 2012-13 to 54 percent.
• Marginalisation of farmers: Land fragmentation is the other challenge. The share of marginal agricultural households, possessing less than 1 ha, has increased from 69.44 per cent to 70.44 per cent between 2012-13 and 2018-19, according to NSO. But the share of small and medium farmers (owning 1.01 ha to 10 ha) has dropped from 30.52 per cent to 29.2 per cent during the period.

Overview of Agriculture Sector in India

• Agriculture, with its allied sectors, is the largest source of livelihood in India.
• 70 percent of its rural households still depend primarily on agriculture for their livelihood, with 82 percent of farmers being small and marginal.
• India is the largest producer (25% of global production), consumer (27% of world consumption) and importer (14%) of pulses in the world.
• India's annual milk production was 165 MT (2017-18), making India the largest producer of milk, jute and pulses.
• It is the second-largest producer of rice, wheat, sugarcane, cotton and groundnuts, as well as the second-largest fruit and vegetable producer, accounting for 10.9% and 8.6% of the world fruit and vegetable production, respectively.

What are the various issues faced by the farmers in India?

1. Monsoon Dependency:
   • Agriculture in India largely depends on the monsoon.
   • As a result, the production of food grains fluctuates year after year.
   • A year of the abundant output of cereals is often followed by a year of acute shortage.
   • This, in its turn, leads to price, income, and employment fluctuations.
2. Sub-Division and Fragmentation of Hold­ing:
   • Due to the growth of population and break­down of the joint family system, there has occurred a continuous sub-division of agricultural land into smaller and smaller plots.
   • Sub-division, in its turn, leads to fragmenta­tion of holdings which makes the cultivation un­economic and a major portion of land is not brought under farming.
3. Land Tenure:
   • Most tenants suffered from the insecurity of tenancy.
   • They could be evicted at any time. How­ever, various steps have been taken to provide security of tenancy.
4. Conditions of Agricultural Labourers:
   • The agricultural labourers in India suffer from the problem of surplus labour or disguised unemploy­ment.
   • This pushes the wage rates below the sub­sistence levels.
5. Agricultural Marketing:
   • Agricultural marketing problems arose due to the lack of communications, i.e., con­necting the producing centres with the urban ar­eas which are the main centres of consumption and as a result of which the farmer is unable to market his own produce.
   • Thus, he has to rely on a number of middlemen (intermediaries) for the disposal of his crops at cheap prices.
6. Agricultural Credit:
   • The farmer falls, into debt due to crop failure or low prices of crops or malpractices of moneylenders from which he can never come out of it.
   • There are four main causes of rural indebted­ness:
     1. Low earning power of the borrower
     2. Use of loans for unproductive purposes
     3. The excessively high rate of interest charged by the moneylenders
     4. The manipulation of accounts by the lenders
7. Agricultural Prices:
   • It is necessary that prices of foodgrains set by the Government from time to time give suffi­cient incentive to farmers so that they can earn reasonable incomes.
   • In India, bumper crop leads to falling in revenue of farmers.
8. The Systems and Techniques of Farming:
   1. Neglect of crop rotation:
      • Most farmers in India are illiterate and are not aware of the need for crop rotation.
      • They use the same type of crop and, consequently, the land loses its fertility considerably.
   2. Inadequate use of manures and fertilisers:
      • Inadequate use of manures like cow-dung or vegetable refuge and chemical fertilisers makes Indian agriculture much less productive
   3. The use of poor-quality seeds:
      • In India, not much use has been made of improved varieties of seeds.
      • The main cereals (rice, millets and pulses) are still grown chiefly with unimpro­ved seeds.
   4. Inadequate water supply:
      • Farmers also suffer due to a lack of irrigation facilities.
      • The need for the construction of minor irrigation works of a local nature is both urgent and pressing.
      • In fact, the total water potential in the country is more than adequate to irrigate the whole areas under cultivation.
      • However, the present prob­lem is one of discovering cheap and easy methods of utilising these vast supplies of water.
   5. Inadequate use of efficient farm equip­ment:
      • The method of cultivation in most areas of India is still primitive.
      • Most farmers continue to use primitive ploughs and other accessories.

Conclusion

• The solution to all the farming problems lies beyond the farm sector in the macro-economy.
• A legislation is needed which makes a "living wage" mandatory for agri-workers and fixes minimum support price (MSP) for all crops after factoring in the full production cost (including components like cost of in-house labour and equipment).
• The demand for food will go up as the poor will then be able to afford an adequate amount of food.
• As a result, the market price will go up, even beyond the current MSP, ensuring higher prices for farmers,

Source: PIB

Mains Question:

Q. Discuss the various challenges being faced by the agriculture sector and the various initiatives taken by the government in order to achieve the aim of doubling the farmers’ income?