Progress in Doubling Farmer Income

Doubling Farmer Income UPSC: Relevance

• GS 3: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.

Agriculture in India: Context

• Recently, the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has informed the Lok Sabha about the progress in doubling farmer income.

Doubling Farmer Income: Key points

• 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.
• The DFI strategy recommends recognition of agriculture as a value-led enterprise, identifying 7 major sources of income growth viz.
  • improvement in crop productivity;
  • improvement in livestock productivity;
  • resource use efficiency or savings in the cost of production;
  • increase in the cropping intensity;
  • diversification towards high value crops;
  • improvement in real prices received by farmers; and
  • shift of surplus manpower from farm to non-farm occupations.

Government steps in agriculture sector

• Formation and promotion of 10,000 FPOs along with necessary financial support under AtmaNirbhar Package (Agriculture),
• Special attention for creation of infrastructure through Agri Infrastructure Fund (AIF) with a size of Rs. 100,000 crore,
• Supplementary income transfers under PM-KISAN,
• Crop insurance under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY),
• Better access to irrigation under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY),
• 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,
• New procurement policy under PM-AASHA in addition to FCI operations,
• Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) offering production loan to even dairy & fishery farmers besides agricultural crops,
• National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), which aims to evolve and implement strategies to make Indian agriculture more resilient to the changing climate.
• Focus on application of digital technology at all stages of agricultural value chain.
• Adoption of drone technologies in agriculture which has a potential to revolutionize the Indian agriculture.
• 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.

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