Govt sets 7-point strategy to double farmers' income

New Delhi: Working on the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to improve the economic condition of farmers, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh has devised a seven-point strategy to double the farmers' income by 2022.

Explaining about the strategy to increase farmers' income, Singh said, "We are working on a seven-point strategy to double farmers' income by 2022. The government is working in a planned manner. The first point is to increase productivity. It broadly means focusing on irrigation with adequate resources and that is why we have increased the irrigation budget."

"Given that India has 142 million hectares agriculture land, out of which only 48 per cent land is under institutional irrigation. With the objective of providing water to every field, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) was launched in July 2015," Singh said.

Explaining further, Singh said, "The government has adopted an overall approach, which combines irrigation with water preservation. The objective is more crop per drop. In addition, the aim is to complete pending medium and large irrigation projects on the priority basis in the next four years."

The second point is the effective use of inputs, which means increasing production through improved seeds, planting materials, organic farming, Soil Health Card and other schemes. The third point focuses on reducing post-harvest losses. The major challenge that farmers face after harvesting is storage as a result they are forced to sell their products at a lower cost.

Therefore, the government is encouraging farmers to use warehouses and avoid distressed sales. The fourth agenda of the Centre is adding value to agricultural produce to promote quality through food processing. The Centre has launched Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana to promote value addition.

"The fifth point is reforms in agriculture marketing. We want to ensure that a large part of the profit reaches the farmer and the role of intermediaries minimises. Therefore, the Centre is emphasising on the need of reforms in agriculture marketing," Singh told reporters.

Under its sixth strategy that deals with risk, security, and assistance, the Centre has initiated Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) to reduce the possible risks, while the seventh and the last point is allied activities. Under the allied activities, the government is focusing on horticulture, dairy, poultry, beekeeping, fisheries, white revolution, blue revolution, etc to increase farmers' income.