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| Doubling farmers’ income; halving the no. of farmers’ | | Exploring the possibility | | Dr. Parveen Kumar, Dr. D. Namgyal | 10/2/2019 10:40:30 PM |
| Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy contributing about 14 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product. About 50 per cent of the Indian families are dependent on this sector for their livelihood. Indian agriculture is characterized by marginal and small farmers. More than 80 per cent of the holdings are marginal and small in nature having less than two hectares of land. Moreover the holdings are fragmented and scattered at different places where mechanization is not feasible. The rising cost of inputs along with uncertainties of weather accompanied by the lack of marketing infrastructure have increased the cost of cultivation and decreased the net income of the farmers. Although the government has taken steps like e-NAM revised the MSP to 1.5 times the cost of cultivation, yet these initiatives have not shown any substantiate results on the ground. Majority of the farming community thus feels being dejected and is willing to leave this occupation. This has been authenticated by various reports too. According to 2001 census, about 2000 farmers are daily quitting agriculture because they do not find it remunerative. In 2016 the average age of an Indian farmer was 50.1 years and that's something to worry. If the trend of quitting this agriculture continues, than it would be very difficult to ensure food security for our burgeoning population by the year 2050. In the year 2050 the population is expected to reach 1.9 billion and more than two-third will be in the middle income group. The food demand by that time is expected to be double than the present production.
Statistics reveal that about 83 per cent of the rural people in the country are either entirely landless or own less than one hectare of land. Another 14 per cent own less than three hectares and the holdings of such size are as good as a small and non profitable farm holding depending on the irrigation status and other factors. Only about 0.25 per cent of rural households own more than 10 ha of land and a very less 0.01 per cent own over 20 hectares. In terms of national per capita income parameters, the majority of small farmers' i. e 80 percent cannot carry on with agriculture if they are not provided with other support and are not included in social safety nets.
As the government has set up the ambitious plan of doubling the farmers' income by 2022, the policy makers, planners and the scientific community are working round the clock to ensure the target is achieved within the prescribed deadline. For this the government has also started many schemes like the soil health cards, Prime Minister Krishi Sinchai Yojana, the National Agricultural Market (e-NAM), PM Fasal Bima Yojana, revision in Minimum Support Price of different crops and many other farm and farmer welfare schemes. While doubling farmers' income has now become a subject of discussion different, the views of an economist, a member of the Prime Minister Economic Advisory Council surprised many of us. He suggested 'halving the no. of farmers to double farmers' income'. This opened a debate whether it is feasible to half the no. of farmers in the country. Even Minister of state for Agriculture Mr. Parshotam Rupala in his address in the upper house had admitted that going by the present growth rate of 4 per cent it is not possible to double the farmers' income by 2022.
If not halving, than reducing the number of farmers' has also got the support of Mr. Shenggen Fenn, the Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Mr. Fenn came up with 'Move out, Move up' approach. Mr Fenn emphasized how Chinese transformation was based on this approach of 'Move out, Move up' but said that there is more resistance to this approach in India. When we talk of move out, it means the population dependent on agriculture in rural India depicting a typical case of disguised employment must move out from rural areas to urban centers. Those who remain behind will be able to consolidate their holding and should move up by producing high value food that will create new opportunities. This should also be accompanied by the increasing non-farm opportunities in rural areas for the farmers to come out of poverty. Food processing, input supplies, trade and marketing, making construction for urban centers and many others as such non-farm opportunities that are possible in rural areas where farmers could work part time or seasonally o gain additional income.
While halving the number of farmers does not seems to be feasible and worthy given the vast majority of rural population dependent on this sector, reducing their no. can be a good approach. This too cannot be reduced in a one go. It has to be done systematically over a period of time. The government has to come up with policies that facilitate farmers to leave farming or to move out of rural areas to urban centers. Subsequently the government has also to develop the framework of how the remaining one will be moved up in the farming sector to tackle agrarian crisis. Statistics also shows the higher the non farm income, the lesser the poverty. While move out will be favored by increased industrialization and urbanization with provision of housing and cleanliness, the move up will be favored by diversification, value addition, entrepreneurship, community mobilization. All this will help farmers to get better returns of their produce.
At the same time, the government should also invest in linkage between rural and urban economy. As urban peoples get prosperous they will demand better and more nutritious food and this would encourage the peoples in rural areas to go for diversification in agriculture. It will create a great opportunity for small holders leading to development of agricultural entrepreneurs in rural pockets areas who will be job providers instead of job seekers. |
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