Govt Doesn't Have Data on Financial Condition of Farmers in Country: Narendra Tomar

The government does not have data regarding financial condition of farmers in the country, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Tuesday.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, he said, "The last survey was conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) in 2013 and, therefore, no data is available with the ministry indicating the financial condition of the farmers."

However, as per the last survey conducted by NSSO in India in 2013, rural India had about 90.2 million agricultural households, which constituted about 57.8 per cent of the total estimated rural households of the country during the same period, he said.

Majority of the agricultural households that possessed more than 0.40 hectare land reported cultivation as their principal source of income, he added.

According to the 2013 NSSO survey, among the agricultural households having less than 0.01 hectare land, about 56 per cent reported wage/salary employment as their principal source of income and another 23 per cent reported livestock as their principal source of income.

About 44 per cent of the estimated agricultural households in the country had MGNREGA job card during the survey period. About 52 per cent of the agricultural households in the country were estimated to be indebted.

Agriculture, including agricultural indebtedness, being a state subject, the state governments take appropriate measures for development of agriculture in the state, he added.

However, the central government supplements the efforts of states through appropriate policy measures and budgetary support.

Further, Tomar said the central government had constituted an inter-ministerial committee in 2016 to recommend a strategy for doubling of farmers' income (DFI) by the year 2022.

The DFI committee submitted its report and, thereafter, the government constituted an empowered body on January 23, 2019, to monitor and review the progress as per these recommendations.

To achieve this, the committee has identified seven sources of income for growth -- improvement in crop productivity; improvement in livestock productivity; resource use efficiency or savings in the cost of production; increase in the cropping intensity; diversification towards high-value crops; improvement in real prices received by farmers; and shift from farm to non-farm occupations, he added.