Few roadblocks to double digit farm income by 2022

New Delhi, Jan. 31: To achieve the target of doubling farmers' income by 2022, the Economic Survey on Friday said there is an urgent need to address some of the basic challenges like credit, insurance coverage and irrigation facilities in the agriculture and its allied sectors.

There is also a need to reallocate labour resources to other sectors, give increased focus on exploring global markets for agricultural commodities besides supplementing efforts of farmers with direct income support, it said. "The realisation of the objective of doubling farmers' income necessitates addressal of some of the basic challenges of agriculture and allied sector," according to the Economic Survey 2019-20 tabled in Parliament. Issues such as investment in agriculture, water conservation, improved yields through better farming practices, access to market, availability of institutional credit, increasing the linkages between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors need urgent attention, it said. According to the Survey, the coverage of irrigation facilities needs to be extended while ensuring an effective water conservation mechanism. An inclusive approach to provision for agricultural credit has to be undertaken to address the issue of skewness in its regional distribution, it said. As the proportion of small and marginal holdings is significantly large, land reform measures like freeing up land markets can help farmers improve their income. The Survey further said allied sectors, such as animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries, need to be given a boost to provide an assured secondary source of employment and income, especially for small and marginal farmers. Given the fact that the livestock sector has grown at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 8 per cent over the past five years, it assumes an important role in income, employment and nutritional security, it said. "Livestock income has become an important secondary source of income for millions of rural families and has assumed as important role in achieving the goal of doubling farmers' income," the Survey added. Noting that farm mechanisation helps the Indian farming transform into commercial from subsistence farming, the survey said there is also a need to address the issue of lower farm mechanisation in India.