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.,

 

(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 of surplus manpower from farm to non-farm occupations.

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 2012- June 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 (2018-19) 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 AtmaNirbhar 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.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

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