Huge gulf between the incomes and debt of farmers in UP and Punjab

The two states, which spearheaded the protests against the farm laws, lie on the opposite ends of the national average

The government’s decision to repeal the three new farm laws comes when elections to the legislative assemblies of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab are less than four months away.

While there was a debate on whether the farmers’ movement against the laws was nationwide or limited to UP and Punjab, the farmers from these two states were the most active in the year-long protest.

In the farming scene, however, UP and Punjab lie on the opposite ends of the national average. While an average Indian farmer earns Rs 10,218 from agricultural activities—including wages, dairy and other sources apart from crop cultivation—the UP average is 20 per cent less, at Rs 8,061 per month.

Due to lower levels, the average UP farmer has had a higher income growth from 2013 to 2019, if we compare income data from the two situational assessment surveys of agricultural households in the two years.

Though Punjab’s farm income growth looks slower compared to national average, the monthly average farm income of Rs 26,700 there is close to the amount a government clerk earns in a month.

But while incomes have grown faster than the national average for UP farmers, so has indebtedness. Average loan per farming household has increased 87 per cent in UP over six years. The nationwide average in loan growth has been 58 per cent. An average Punjab farmer owes 70 per cent more than six years ago.

There is a wide gap between the absolute debt held by farmers in these two states. A Punjab farmer (Rs 2,03,249) has four times as much debt as an average UP farmer (Rs 51,107), in 2019. The India average lies in between, at Rs 74,121 per farmer household.