Innovations in Agriculture – Doubling Farmers’ InCome By 2022

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- Key challenges faced by farmers in India

- Declining response ratio of inputs like fertilisers

Indiscriminate use of chemical fertilisers has adversely impacted the soil health across India. The lower pricing of fertilisers by government has led to famers using large amount of certain fertilisers like urea. The skewed distribution of fertilizer subsidy, pricing policies, and the resultant imbalances in the use of fertilizer, require measures to arrest decline of soil fertility and corrective actions as well.

- Skewed availability of certified quality seeds

The availability of quality seeds is critical for higher productivity and yield in

Agriculture. Data suggests that the availability of certified seeds is primarily restricted to wheat and paddy, and to some extent groundnut, soya bean and potato

- Availability of water / move towards efficient irrigation means

Water is the most critical input for agriculture and the risks associated with

Agriculture is directly proportional to water stress. The area irrigated by different sources in India shows that tube wells are the most common source of irrigation across farm holdings, followed by canals. The water use efficiency in conventional irrigation ranges from 30% to 50% as compared to 80% - 95% in the case of Micro Irrigation (MI) including drip irrigation. The above data suggests the need for systems efficient in the use of water like drip and sprinkler irrigation

- Price risks

The Indian farmer faces price uncertainties for his / her produce owing to supply and demand fluctuations, speculation and hoarding by traders. The price risks emanating from an inefficient APMC market, are severe for farmers in India since they have very low resilience owing to the perishable nature of produce, inability to hold produce, hedge in surplus / shortage scenarios or to insure against losses

- Credit risks

Credit is an important mediating input for agriculture to improve productivity. Access to institutional credit enables the farmer to purchase inputs on cash, tide over periods till receipt of payment from sale of produce, which at times is delayed and staggered, and also to invest to enhance productivity and

also output.

The predominance of informal sources of credit for farmers is a concern. As per the NSSO 70th round data (Jan to Dec 2013), 40% of the funds of farmers still come from informal sources. Local money lenders account for almost 26% share of total agricultural credit. These borrowings come at significantly higher rates of interest.

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- Key Government of India initiatives for agriculture sector

Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)

Cluster based programme to encourage farmers towards organic farming. 50 or more farmers to form cluster having 50 acres of land, target to have 10,000 such clusters in 3 years, each farmer provided Rs20,000 per acre per year

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

100% FDI allowed in Tea sector, Cold Storage sector, Floriculture, Horticulture, Apiculture and Cultivation of Vegetables & Mushrooms under controlled conditions; Development and production of Seeds and planting material; Animal Husbandry (including breeding of dogs), Pisciculture, Aquaculture, under controlled conditions; and Services related to agro and allied sectors

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana

Vision of PMKSY: extending the coverage of irrigation ‘Har Khet ko pani’ and improving water use efficiency ‘More crop per drop'.

Soil Health Card

Scheme introduced in all states / UTs to evaluate fertility in farm holdings and issue soil health cards to farmers regularly in a cycle of 2 years. Information provided includes nutrient status along with recommendations on appropriate dosage of nutrients to be applied for improving soil health and its fertility

Source: Press Information Bureau, news sources

Key provisions for farmers in Budget 2017-18

- Target for agricultural credit in 2017-18: Rs 10 lakh crores

- Farmers to benefit from 60 days’ interest waiver as announced on 31 Dec 2016

- Coverage under Fasal Bima Yojana scheme will be increased from 30% of cropped area in 2016-17 to 40% in 2017-18 and 50% in 2018-19 for which a budget provision of Rs. 9000 crore has been made

- New mini labs in Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and ensure 100% coverage of all 648 KVKs in the country for soil sample testing

- The Long Term Irrigation Fund set up in NABARD to be augmented by 100% to Rs 40,000 crores

- Dedicated Micro Irrigation Fund in NABARD to achieve ‘per drop more crop’ with an initial corpus of Rs. 5,000 crores

- Coverage of National Agricultural Market (e-NAM) to be expanded from 250 markets to 585 APMCs. Assistance up to Rs 75 lakhs will be provided to every e-NAM

- A model law on contract farming to be prepared and circulated among the States for adoption (update: NITI Aayog has already formulated a model law)

- Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund to be set up in NABARD with a corpus of Rs 2,000 crores and will be increased to Rs 8,000 crores over 3 years

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- Sources of Growth in Farmer’s Income

Doubling income of farmers by 2022 may well require annual growth of more than 10%. Highlighted below are some of the major sources of growth within agricultural sector:

- Improvement in productivity

Two major sources to increase agricultural output are: increase in area and productivity. Further expansion in area under cultivation in India looks highly