NEW DELHI, Oct 24: The agriculture ministry is examining the recommendations of an inter-ministerial committee on doubling farmers’ income by 2022, a senior official said Wednesday.
The panel headed by National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA) CEO Ashok Dalwai has submitted a report with a detailed strategy to increase farmers’ income to Rs 1.92 lakh per annum by 2022 based on the 2015-16 wholesale prices, from the current income of Rs 96,000.
“The inter-ministerial committee has submitted the recommendations on doubling farmers’ income by 2022. The agriculture minister is holding a meeting with officials to decide the way forward,” agriculture secretary Sanjay Agarwal said an event here.
Agarwal said the panel has pitched for higher investment by both public and private sectors in the farm sector besides shifting the focus on post production and marketing of agri-produce.
While speaking at the event organised by Indian Council of Food and Agriculture (ICFA), he said some of the views of the panel are being implemented like linking 585 wholesale ‘mandis’ to the electronic platform and establishing soil testing labs across the country.
According to the report, economic indicators do not show equitable and egalitarian growth in income of farmers despite increase in agriculture and horticulture output over last few years.
“The human factor behind agriculture, the farmers, remain in frequent distress, despite higher productivity and production. The demand for income growth from farming activity, has also translated into demand for government to procure and provide suitable returns,” the report said.
In a reorientation of the approach, the committee suggested “self-sustainable models” empowered with improved market linkage as the basis for income growth of farmers.
Highlighting the challenges faced by the agriculture sector, renowned agri-scientist M S Swaminathan emphasised on market access and anticipatory research work in view of the likely impact of climate change on the sector.
He also stressed on the use of new technologies like gene editing with agriculture entering a new phase.
Corteva Agriscience South Asia leader K V Subbarao talked about sustainable agriculture to meet the food demand in 2050. (PTI)
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