The committee would like to thank them for their fruitful advice and consistent moral support. Ashok Gulati (Ex-President, CACP) and Shri Siraj Hussain (Ex-Secretary, DAC&FW) and others also provided useful insights to the Committee. Ashish Kumar Bhutani, Joint Secretary (Credit), DAC&FW Shri K S Srinivas, Joint Secretary (Drought Management), DAC&FW Dr.
About Volume XIV
Comprehensive Policy Recommendations”
Index
Introduction
- The Context
- Sustaining Income Growth – Five Pillars
- Layout of the Recommendations
- The Watchword – Efficiency for Sustainability
Farmers' income is directly linked to agricultural production costs (including input costs) and profitable monetization of agricultural products through effective market linkages. The recommendations emerging from the previous 13 different volumes, identified under different themes, seek to align with one or more of the five pillars identified by the DFI Board as essential to doubling farmers' income and sustaining steady income growth over the long term. Individual volumes of the Committee on the Doubling of Farmers' Incomes report deal with a particular topic to first set the context and consider the logic before leading to concluding recommendations on the chosen topic.
Income Growth Rates and Investment Targets
Therefore, the government should adopt a framework for annual assessment of farmers' (farm and non-farm) income. The frequency of this survey should be reduced to five years from the current 10 years. Responsibility: DAC&FW, NITI Aayog, MoSPI. Restructuring of RKVY-RAFTAAR Department in DAC&FW with added role of Agricultural Investment and Enterprise Development Department.
Structural Reforms and Governance Framework
Monetisation and Optimising Returns
Resource Use-efficiency and Diversification
This program deserves to be expanded in a big way to all rainfed areas of the country. Groundwater-based irrigation accounts for 60 percent of the irrigated area created in the country. Due to overexploitation, large tracts that are included in the country's food bowl (Punjab, Western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana) have turned into 'dark areas'.
The latest technology that helps in remote control of the water pump can also be promoted. According to the 'Rainfed Atlas' of the 'Revitalising, Rainfed Agriculture Network (RRAN)', about 55 of the 100 poorest districts in the country are rainfed. Most of the new molecules with patents are imported, which increases the price per unit.
Farmers may owe some machinery and may need repair and similar other services. Organic carbon is considered a surrogate parameter for soil biological health. ICAR-CRIDA may revisit the "vulnerability assessment" of the districts based on the recent IPCC 5th Assessment Report (AR5).
The new list of districts that can be derived from this should be obtained.
Productivity Enhancement & Cropping Intensity
This is important considering the water stress that has developed in the country, especially in the food bowl of India, namely Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGPs). However, replacement strategy must follow significant increases in productivity of rice in the remaining area, so that food security is not compromised. Therefore, any replacement plan for rice must be accompanied by a comprehensive strategy to achieve higher yields in the remaining area under rice.
According to studies, an increase in temperature by 1 ºC causes a yield decrease of wheat in the range of 5-10 percent. This alternative strategy is important in the larger perspective of greater certainty of the impact of climate change. Diversification of the rice-wheat system under conservation agriculture (CA) in the Indo-Gangetic plain will be key to sustainability.
Only about 30 percent of the country's area is currently covered by single cross hybrids (SCH), indicating the extent of the large area to be covered and the potential of higher production that can be realized. Millets, popularized as food grains, are set to gain critical mass in the market and support higher production. This approach is influenced by the need to reach a certain critical quantum in the market and improve availability, accessibility and affordability.
Most millets are short-duration in nature (typically 65-80 days) and can be successfully grown fallow after kharif.
Pulses
Risk Management
At each of the proposed Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAM) centers, weather recording instruments and warning mechanism can also be installed. One of the important factors that can influence the level of adoption of new technology is its ability to bring monetary gains to the farmers. Thus, it can become a powerful tool in the hands of the farmers to take rational decisions regarding production based on forecast stimulus, precautionary measures in response to 'Warnings and early warning', etc.
Alternatively, the Model Land Lease Act already introduced by NITI Aayog can be amended to incorporate the contemplated provisions of the Land Cultivators License Act. Greater efforts should be made to promote this program in line with the PMFBY. This discourages many players, especially the smaller ones, from participating in the tender, discouraging competitive pricing to the detriment of farmers.
Many of the FPOs/FPCs struggle to establish and start their business in the initial years. This is the critical period when, if no business is started, members may lose confidence in the effectiveness of the FPOs. For full context and other details, the linked domain-specific volumes of the DFI report can be referred to.
Secondary Agricultural Activities
The secondary farms can be categorized depending on the level of capital, organization, technology and business risks. Various forms of secondary agriculture should be established and promoted that can supplement income from primary agriculture. The Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) and Price Support Scheme (PSS) now in operation can integrate some of the secondary agricultural trade into agricultural markets.
The RKVY-RAFTAAR scheme can promote integrated farming activities as one of the main tools of Secondary Agriculture. Integrated collective or cooperative farming should be promoted and DAC&FW may consider appointing a nodal entity (eg KKKB) to encourage the cooperative model. Production of bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides should be recognized as an emerging avenue of income generation; and as a possibility of secondary agriculture of sunrise, for sustainable.
A separate cell can be created under the aegis of Secondary Agriculture under Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Unnat Krishi Shiksha Scheme to promote value addition to waste and residues (such as coconut and banana). Secondary agriculture is recognized as an important research area in INSPIRE (Innovation In Science Pursuit For Inspired Research Program). Secondary agriculture MSME status may be granted so that it can be supported under the MSME Market Development Assistance programme.
Promoting secondary agriculture will require recognizing it as an important and independent mandate to generate additional income-generating jobs and increase farm income.
Extension and Knowledge Diffusion
The majority of farmers are small and marginal and must therefore be a priority of the public extension system (PES). The role of the extension system must change to match the current realities faced by the recipients. Since MANAGE under the DAC&FW is the nodal institution for generating new knowledge and capacity building of the extension system across the country, it will be necessary to build a team at MANAGE that specializes in marketing guidance linked to all the agricultural sub-systems such as livestock, dairy , fisheries, horticulture, apart from field crops.
Strengthen the role of the Directorate of Extension (DOE) in DAC&FW so that it can play a more proactive role in providing technical backstopping to the Department's Extension Division in the execution of various extension initiatives. The National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) is an independent organization under DAC&FW. These include SREP of ATMA, C-DAP of RKVY, PLP of NABARD, NICRA of ICAR, District Irrigation Plan (DIP) of Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) and DAC&FW etc.
Convergence between agricultural research and extension as agreed between DAC&FW and DARE (June 2015 Convergence Circular) needs to be ensured in letter and spirit. In order to implement the desired approach of “market-led extension”, the extension officers need to conduct orientation and sensitization of the farmers by providing them with information about the benefits of online trading platform like e-NAM and other alternative marketing channels, direct marketing of produce terminal markets, primary processing at the village level, becoming a contract supplier in the existing value chain of an agro-processor, positive aspects of a warehouse loan, etc. Since agriculture is a state subject, most of the advisory functionaries come from agriculture and allied departments of the state.
In addition, fifty percent of farmer friends across the country must be women.
Research & Development
It will include aspects of crop planning and diversification, secondary agricultural activities, harmonized information repository, credit and investment, etc. Risk mitigation, including those arising from markets, apart from traditional risks such as animal and crop health, weather, pests, etc. , and insurance-related strategies. These include traceability, valuation technologies, transparency in price discovery and exchange process, packaging and transport systems, reduction of product losses, technologies that convert residual waste into usable commodities, value addition where form of products is changed, and the like.
Energy use efficiency in agricultural activities, including in the use of fuel and electricity, automation to reduce indiscriminate use of energy, systems that improve output of working labor, etc. Agricultural Management Systems, to identify and build a database of farmers (landed and otherwise). ), monitoring of yields, transparency in delivery mechanism, facilitation of unified national agricultural market, dashboard systems, etc. Science and technology have essentially had an underlying role across the entire agricultural ecosystem, and have a direct impact on various result areas.
