Farm Mechanisation for Doubling Farmers’ Income
Improved agricultural implements and machinery are essential inputs for modern agriculture. It enhances productivity besides reducing human drudgery and cost of cultivation. It also helps in improving utilization efficiency of other inputs.
Taking into consideration the above, to boost the farm mechanization in the country, a special dedicated schemeSub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) has been introduced by Government, under which subsidy is provided for purchase of various types of Agricultural implements and machinery used for tillage, sowing, planting, harvesting, reaping, threshing, plant protection, inter cultivation and residue management.
A special Scheme to support the efforts of the Governments of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and the NCT of Delhi to address air pollution due to stubble burning and to subsidize machinery for the farmers for in-situ management of crop residue, a new Central Sector Scheme on ‘‘Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization for In-Situ Management of Crop Residue in the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi” (CRM) for the period from 2018-19 to 2019-20 has been also launched.
Some of the State Governments like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh are providing farm machineries to the farmers at a concessional rate through their Agricultural Departments.
However, to make available costly and bigger advance farm machinery at the door steps of the farmers on rent basis, Government is promoting Custom Hiring Centres (CHC) through a SMAM scheme; under which subsidy is provided @ of 40% of the project cost to individual farmer upto a project cost of Rs.60 lakh and 80% to the group of farmers upto a project cost of Rs. 10 lakh. A special consideration for the farmers of North Eastern Region (NER) is available, 95% subsidy upto a project cost of Rs. 10 lakh is provided to group of NER farmers for establishment of Custom Hiring Centres. For establishment of Hi-tech and Hi-value agricultural machinery CHC, assistance @ of 40% of the project cost to individual farmer upto a project cost of Rs.250 lakh is provided. Under the CRM scheme to establish Custom Hiring of in-situ crop residue management machinery a financial assistance @ 80% of the project cost is provided to the farmers.
The Government has also developed and launched Multi lingual Mobile App “CHC- Farm Machinery” which helps the farmers for getting rented farm machinery and implements through Custom Hiring Service Centers (CHC) in their area. As on date, 44,607 CHCs with 1,39,319 Agricultural machinery for renting out are registered on this Mobile app. Total 1,14,461 farmers as users are registered on this Mobile App.
The Government has introduced the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Scheme, which enables farmers to purchase agricultural inputs and draw cash to satisfy their agricultural and consumption needs. The KCC Scheme has since been simplified and converted into ATM enabled RuPaydebit card with, inter alia, facilities of one-time documentation, built-in cost escalation in the limit, any number of drawals within the limit, etc.
With a view to ensure availability of agriculture credit at a reduced interest rate of 7% p.a. to the farmers, an interest subvention scheme for short term crop loans upto Rs.3.00 lakh is implemented. The scheme provides interest subvention of 2% per annum to Banks on use of their own resources. Besides, additional 3% incentive is given to the farmers for prompt repayment of the loan, thereby reducing the effective rate of interest to 4%.
Steps to Increase Farmers Income
Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) uses crop-wise, state-wise cost estimates provided by the Directorate of Economics & Statistics (DES), DAC&FW compiled under ‘Comprehensive Scheme (CS) for Studying the Cost of Cultivation (CoC) of Principal Crops in India’. Since CS data is generally available with a time lag of two to three years given the imperative of recommending pricing policy for ensuing season, cost estimates need to be projected for the crop season under consideration. Based on CS data, the Commission projects crop-wise, State-wise CoC of mandated crops for the subsequent season. Composite Input Price Indices (CIPIs) based on latest prices of major inputs like human labour, bullock labour, machine labour, fertilizers, manures, seeds, pesticides and irrigation is constructed, costs of interest on working capital, miscellaneous charges, rental value of owned land, rent paid for leased-in land, land revenue, taxes & cesses, depreciation on implements & farm buildings and interest on fixed capital are also included in the cost.
Based on the latest data available from different sources like Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour and Employment, State Governments and Office of Economic Adviser, Ministry of Commerce and Industry and CIPIs thus constructed, the Commission projects crop-wise, State-wise cost of production (CoP) A2, A2+FL and C2, from these projected CoCs using projected yield. Subsequently, all-India estimates of CoP A2, A2+FL, C2 are derived based on crop-wise, State-wise projected CoPs and their production shares. These projected all-India estimates of CoP are considered by the Commission while formulating national level price policy recommendations & MSP.
The procurement policy of Government of India (GOI) is open ended, under which paddy and wheat offered by farmers all over the country within the stipulated period (conforming to specifications prescribed in advance by GOI) are purchased for Central Pool at Minimum Support Price (MSP) by Food Corporation of India (FCI)/State Governments/State Government Agencies to help farmers get remunerative price and prevent distress cell. However, if any producer/farmer gets better price in comparison to MSP, he/she is free to sell his/her produce in open market. Coarse grains are procured at MSP by State Government as per the procurement plan prepared in consultation with FCI and approved by the Central Government.
A Price Support Scheme (PSS) for procurement of oilseeds, pulses and cotton is implemented by DAC&FW through Central Nodal Agencies at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) declared by the Government subject to certain conditions being met by the State Governments. Losses, if any, are reimbursed by the Government of India to the Central Nodal Agencies. Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) is implemented to protect the growers of crops not covered under MSP scheme from making distress sale.
Agricultural Growth Rate
Fertilizers are essential to improve Soil Health and to sustain higher agricultural productivity in the country. The Government of India (GoI) has been promoting soil test based Integrated Nutrient Management for balanced and judicious use of fertilizers. Soil Health Card Scheme has been implemented since 2015-16. Soil Health Card provides crop-wise recommendation on appropriate dosage of fertilizers to be applied.
Pesticides play an important role in sustaining agricultural production by protecting crops from pests. GoI has been implementing ‘Sub-Mission on Plant-protection and Plant Quarantine’ Scheme, under which Integrated Pest Management is promoted to educate the farmers about judicious use of chemical pesticides. Bio-pesticides and bio-control measures are also being promoted.
The Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Growth rate recorded during last 5 years are as under:-
Year Percentage change over previous year
2014-15 -0.2
2015-16 0.6
2016-17 6.8
(Third Revised Estimate)
2017-18 5.9
(Second revised Estimate)
2018-19 2.4
(First revised Estimate)
Gross Value Added (GVA) of Agricultural and allied sectors’ share in total GVA of the country has increased from 16.1% in 2018-19 to 16.5% in 2019-20.