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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Doubling of farmers' income: Time to swing into action - Here is why -T Nanda Kumar

Doubling of farmers' income: Time to swing into action - Here is why -T Nanda Kumar

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published Published on Apr 11, 2018   modified Modified on Apr 11, 2018
-The Financial Express

Increasing farm productivity alone will not help raise farmers’ income and may even be detrimental. the need is to diversify farmers’ sources of income.

One of the most important statements made in recent times by the government was the declaration of its intention to double farmers’ income by 2022. The statement of prime minister Narendra Modi in Bareilly on February 28, 2016, must have made the farmers leap with joy; news they must have longed to hear for a long time!

This declaration of intent was reiterated by the finance minister in his budget speech on February 29, 2016, and reinforced in every budget speech thereafter.

Unfortunately, the defining image of 2018 remains the blistered foot of a farmer from Nashik!

What went wrong?

The announcement about doubling farmers’ income was made in February 2016. Debates stared thereafter whether it is ‘real’ or ‘nominal’ income, and whether it will be done in five years or six years. It is not my intention to get into this debate. Knowledgeable people have written about this ad infinitum.

I would only argue that any step(s) taken to consistently increase the real incomes of farmers on a sustainable basis is a great decision. The whole nation needs to support this. Also, moving away from the typical concerns of productivity and food security, and placing farmer’s prosperity at the centre of the development agenda is a bold step long overdue. Congratulations to the government on this great leap of faith.

Hopes were re-kindled when the PM outlined a seven-point strategy to achieve this vision. The NITI Aayog in a paper in March 2017 outlined specific steps. Briefly stated, these were: increase in productivity of crops, increase in production of livestock, improvements in efficiency of input use, increase in crop intensity, diversification towards high value crops, improved price realisations to farmers, and shift of cultivators to non-farm jobs. All of these were good ideas, which could have made a difference. The NITI paper also argued that the biggest impact on farm incomes will come from better realisation of prices, i.e., market reform.

A committee was formed (in April 2016) under the chairmanship of Ashok Dalwai, a dedicated and distinguished bureaucrat, to write a report on how to double farmers’ income. The committee, assisted by well-known and well-meaning experts, has produced a series of excellent reports on the subject. Last heard of, the final recommendations are yet to be made. Expert seminars on the subject have been held by every institution concerned and have made contributions to the literature: yes the literature and not to farmers’ income!

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The Financial Express, 10 April, 2018, http://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/doubling-of-farmers-income-time-to-swing-into-action-here-is-why/1127523/


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