Doubling farmers' income: Key concerns

In the Indian context, the agricultural households derive income from four sources, viz., cultivation, livestock, non-farm business, and wages and salaries

In recent years, agrarian crisis has been the focal theme in media discourse. The vagaries of the monsoon, low productivity and inefficient markets have been some of the factors for this trend. However, at times bumper crops also lead to agrarian distress due to fall of crops’ prices. Thus, the real challenge in the agricultural sector is the monetisation of the output so that the farmers receive the optimum price and higher gross income. Nevertheless what matters to the farmers is the income net of costs.

It was in February 2016 that the government announced its vision to double the farmers’