The Role of Government Policies in Supporting Farmer’s Income

In a written response submitted to the Lok Sabha on March 21, 2022, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar provided this information.

The NSSO survey is used to estimate farmer’s income. The monthly agricultural household income was estimated to be Rs. 6426 in 2012–13, according to the most recent “Situation Assessment Survey,” but it climbed to Rs. 10218 in 2018–19.

An Inter-Ministerial Committee was set up by the government in April 2016 to look into problems with the “Doubling of Farmer’s Income (DFI)” and provide solutions. In September 2018, the Committee gave the Government its final report, which included a plan to double farmers’ incomes through different policies, reforms, and programs.

Since agriculture is a state subject, state governments take necessary actions to promote the growth of agriculture and the welfare of farmers in the state. Nonetheless, the Government of India supports the efforts of the States with appropriate policy measures, monetary assistance, and a variety of programs and projects.

The government has enacted and put into effect a number of policies, reforms, development programs, and schemes in accordance with the plan recommended by the DFI Committee to increase farmer incomes. They include:

 Unprecedented enhancement in budget allocation.

The budgetary allocation for the Ministries of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairy in 2013–14 was merely 30223.88 crore. To reach Rs. 1,31,612.41 crore in 2023–24, this has more than 4.35 times risen.

 Income support to farmers through PM KISAN

PM-KISAN, an income assistance program, will be introduced in 2019 and will offer Rs. 6000 annually in 3 equal installments. To date, more than 11 crore farmers have received payments totaling more than Rs. 2.24 lakh crore.

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)

In order to solve issues with farmers paying high premium rates and the reduction in covered total owing to capping, the six-year PMFBY was introduced in 2016. 37.66 crore farmer applications have been enrolled throughout the last six years of implementation, and over 12.38 crore (provisional) farmer applicants have received claims.

Amounts totaling more than Rs. 1,30,185 crore (Provisional) have been paid to farmers as claims against the almost Rs. 25,174 crores they paid as their part of the premium during this time. Farmers have so received around Rs. 517 in claims for every 100 rupees of premium paid.

 Institutional credit for the agriculture sector

1. increased to Rs. 18.5 lakh crore in 2022–2023 from Rs. 7.3 lakh crore in 2013–2014.
2. Farmers in the animal husbandry and fishing industries can now take use of KCC’s concessional institutional credit at 4% interest per year to address their short-term working capital needs.
3. Since February 2020, a specific initiative has been underway to offer constrained institutional credit, with an emphasis on providing coverage for all PM-KISAN beneficiaries using Kisan Credit Cards (KCC). As of December 30, 2022, the drive had approved 389.33 lakhs of new KCC applications, with a sanctioned credit ceiling of Rs. 4,51,672 crore.

Fixing of Minimum Support Price (MSP) at one-and-a-half times the cost of production.

• The MSP has been raised by the government for all required Kharif, Rabi, and commercial crops with a return of at least 50% above the total India weighted average cost of production starting in 2018–19.
• Paddy’s (common) MSP increased from Rs. 1310 per quintal in 2013–14 to Rs. 2040 per quintal in 2022–23.
• In 2022–2023, the MSP for wheat would increase from Rs. 1400 per quintal in 2013–2014 to Rs. 2125 per quintal.

Promotion of organic farming in the country

• In 2015–16, the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) was launched to encourage organic farming across the nation. A total of 6.53 lakh hectares have been covered, 32,384 clusters have been developed, and 16.19 lakh farmers have benefited. Moreover, 4.09 lakh hectares of natural farming and 1.23 lakh hectares of the Namami Gange Program are both covered. On either side of the Ganga River, farmers in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, and Jharkhand have switched to organic farming in an effort to reduce river water pollution and increase their revenue.
• Through the Bhartiya Prakratik Krishi Padhati program, the government also plans to encourage sustainable natural farming methods (BPKP). The suggested plan intends to lower cultivation costs, increase farmer income, ensure resource conservation, and promote safe and healthy soils, environments, and food.
• The North East Region’s Mission Organic Value Chain Development (MOVCDNER) has begun. A total of 379 Farmer Producer Companies have been established, totaling 1,89,039 farmers and 1,72,966 hectares.

Per Drop More Crop

The Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) program, which uses drip and sprinkler irrigation systems, was introduced in 2015–2016 with the goals of improving water use efficiency, lowering input costs, and raising agricultural output. During the PDMC scheme from the years 2015–16, 72 lakh hectares of land have been covered with micro irrigation thus far.

Micro Irrigation Fund

An initial Rs 5,000 crore Micro Irrigation Fund has been established with NABARD. The fund’s corpus would rise to Rs. 10,000 crores in the budget announcement for 2021–22. Plans for 17,09 lakh hectares of land totaling Rs 4,710.96 crore have been authorized.

 Promotion of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs)

• On February 29, 2020, the Prime Minister announced a new central sector program for the formation and promotion of 10,000 new FPOs, with a budget allocation of Rs. 6865 crores until 2027–28.
• The new FPO scheme had registered 4028 FPOs as of November 30, 2022.
• 1,730 FPOs have received equity grants of Rs. 65.33 billion as of December 31, 2022.
• Credit Guarantee Cover valued at Rs. 101.78 crores was granted to 583 FPOs as of December 31, 2022.

A National Beekeeping and Honey Mission (NBHM)

The Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan launched NBHM in 2020 to boost crop productivity through pollination and increase honey production as a secondary source of income. The beekeeping industry has been given a budget of Rs. 500 crores for the years 2020–2021–2022–2033. Up to this point, 114 projects totaling approximately Rs. 139.23 crores have been approved or sanctioned for funding under NBHM for the 2020–21, 2021–22, and 2022–23 fiscal years.

Agricultural Mechanization

In order to modernize agriculture and lessen the drudgery of farming operations, mechanization of agriculture is absolutely essential. A total of Rs. 5,490.82 crores has been set aside from 2014–15 to March 2022 for agricultural mechanization.

Farmer subsidies have been used to purchase 13,88,314 machinery and pieces of equipment. To make agricultural equipment and machinery available to farmers on a rental basis, 18,824 custom hiring centers, 403 high-tech hubs, and 16,791 farm equipment banks have been formed.

A total of Rs. 585.50 crores has already been made available for the current fiscal year, 2022–23, in order to build 2,281 village-level farm machinery banks, 3,468 CHCs, 64 hi-tech centers, and distribute around 75,391 equipment on a subsidized basis.

Providing Soil Health Cards to farmers

• To maximize the use of nutrients, the Soil Health Card Program was implemented in the 2014–15 growing season. The number of cards distributed to farmers is as follows:
• Cycle-I: 10.74 crores (2015–2017)
• 12.19 crore for Cycle II (2017 to 2019).
• Program for Model Villages (2019–20): 23.71 lakh
• 11.52 lakh in the 2020–21 fiscal year

  Setting up of National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) extension Platform

• The e-NAM platform has 1260 mandis from 22 States and 3 UTs integrated.
• More than 1.74 billion farmers and 2.39 million traders were enrolled on the e-NAM platform as of December 31, 2022.
• As of December 31, 2022, the e-NAM platform registered a total volume of 7.07 billion MT and 20.88 billion numbers (bamboo, betel leaves, coconut, lemon, and sweet corn) valued over 2.42 lakh crore in trade.

Launch of the National Mission for Edible Oils – Oil Palm

NMEO has received approval with an Rs 11,040 crore budget. In the following five years, an additional 6.5 lakh hectares will be planted with oil palm, including 3.28 lakh hectares in the northeastern states and 3.22 lakh hectares in the rest of India. The mission’s primary goal is to offer farmers viable prices for fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) tied to assured industry procurement using a less complex price-fixing methodology.

Agri Infrastructure Fund (AIF)

The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) was established in the year 2020, and since then, 22,354 projects totaling Rs. 16,117 crores have been approved under the program. Many agricultural infrastructures were built with the help of the plan, and some of them are now being finished.

There are approximately 8,752 warehouses, 4,188 primary processing units, 2,635 custom hiring centers, 1,217 sorting and grading projects, 859 cold store projects, 163 assaying projects, and 4,257 other post-harvest management projects and community farming assets among these infrastructures.

Improvement in farm produce logistics, Introduction of Kisan Rail.

The Ministry of Railways has introduced Kisan Rail specifically to handle the transportation of perishable agricultural goods. In July 2020, the first Kisan Rail was inaugurated. 2359 services on 167 routes have been run through December 31, 2022.

MIDH – Cluster Development Programme

The Cluster Development Programme (CDP) aims to support integrated and market-driven growth of pre-production, production, post-harvest, logistics, branding, and marketing activities. It does this by leveraging the geographical specialization of horticultural clusters. Out of the 55 horticulture clusters that DA&FW identified, 12 have been chosen for the CDP’s pilot phase.

 Creation of a Start-up Ecosystem in the agriculture and allied sector

As of today, 1102 startups for the FY 2019–20 to 2022–23 have been chosen by several agricultural incubators and knowledge partners of DA&FW. The respective Knowledge Partners (KPs) & RKVY RAFTAAR Agri-Business Incubators (R-ABIs) have received grants-in-aid support from DA&FW totaling Rs. 66.83 crores for supporting these startups.

Achievement in the Export of Agri and Allied Agri- Commodities

The export of agricultural and related products has dramatically increased throughout the nation. The export of agricultural products and related products increased by 19.99% from the prior year 2020–21 to 2021–22, or from 41.86 billion USD to 50.24 billion USD.

The government’s attempts to effectively administer these programs have resulted in notable improvements in the farmers’ revenue. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has published a book as part of the “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav” that compiles the success stories of 75,000 farmers out of countless other successful farmers who have grown their income by more than two times.

The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare relinquished funds totaling Rs. 63,494.84 crores during the course of the last three fiscal years, 2019–20, 2020–21, and 2021–22, for the reasons listed below:

Owing to unused funds from past releases, primarily those made to Goa, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Kerala, and Uttar Pradesh,

States were unable to provide various compliance statements due to a delay in following the Department of Expenditure’s rules for the new system of money disbursement, and there were also unspent funds in State treasuries. Many states’ single nodal account (SNA) mappings on the PFMS portal were also unfinished, and States/UTs failed to provide certain checklists, undertakings, etc. As a result, not many States or UTs received the released funds.

Due to limited capacity, saturation in entitlement-based programs, a lower gross cropped area than the national average, and communal land ownership in the NE States, it is difficult for these states to fully utilize their statutory 10% Gross Budgetary Support allocation.

We can also read posts on government initiatives that will support brand development and industry growth in the food processing sector.

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Sources: www.pib.gov.in/