Why in News?

• The Government has set a target of doubling of farmers’ income by the year 2022. The Government has constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee to examine issues relating to doubling of farmers’ income and recommend a strategy to achieve doubling of farmers’ income in real terms by the year 2022.

Seven sources of income growth:

• The committee has identified seven sources of income growth-

o Improvement in crop and livestock productivity.
o Resource use efficiency.
o Increase in the cropping intensity.
o Diversification towards high value crops.
o Improvement in real prices received by farmers.
o Shift from farm to non-farm occupations.
o Savings in the cost of production.

Initiatives Taken:

• Launch of eNAM initiative to provide farmers an electronic online trading platform.
• Implementation of flagship scheme of distribution of Soil Health Cards to farmers so that the use of fertilizers can be optimized.
• “Per drop more crop” initiative under which drip/sprinkler irrigation is being encouraged for optimal utilization of water.
• Encouraging contract farming through the State Governments by promulgating of Model Contract Farming Act.
• 22,000 Gramin Haats are to be upgraded to work as centers of aggregation and for direct purchase of agricultural commodities from the farmers.
• “Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)” under which organic farming is being promoted. North East is being developed as organic hub.
• Under “Har Medh Par Ped”, agro forestry is being promoted for supplementing farm income, increase risk management and climate resilient agriculture as an important component of Integrated Farming Systems.
• A revised farmer friendly “Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)” have been launched. The scheme covers various types of risks from pre-sowing to post harvest and the farmers have to pay very nominal premium.
• The Indian Forest Act, 1927 was amended to exclude bamboo from the definition of ‘trees’. Henceforth bamboo grown outside forest area will not be regulated under the provisions of felling and transit rules. As a corollary the restructured National Bamboo Mission was launched for development of the value chain of bamboo as a measure to strengthen rural economy by linking the producer (farmer) to markets (industry).
• Launch of PM-Asha scheme which will ensure MSP to farmers for oilseeds, pulses and copra.
• Foreseeing high potential in fisheries sector, a Blue Revolution with multi dimensional activities mainly focusing on fisheries production, both inland and marine is being implemented.
• The National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), one of the eight Missions under the PM’s National Action Plan on Climate Change is anchored in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• Rashtriya Gokul Mission has been implemented to enhance milk production and productivity of bovines and to make milk production more remunerative to the farmers.
• National Livestock Mission has been implemented to increase productivity and genetic improvement of livestock.
• Minimum Support Price (MSP) is notified by the Government for certain crops. Giving a major boost for the farmers income, the Government has approved the increase in the MSPs for all Kharif & Rabi crops for 2018-19 season at a level of at least 150 percent of the cost of production.

Mahila Kisan Diwas:

• Mahila Kisan Diwas was organised and the focus of the event was to learn and address issues and constraints related to women farmers in Agriculture; Animal Husbandry, Dairying, Fisheries and other off-farm activities and their access to institutional credit and micro-financing and building agri-enterprises.

National Food Security Mission:

• NFSM programme is being implemented in 638 districts of 29 states of the country for increasing the production and productivity of food grain crops (rice, wheat, pulses, coarse cereals & nutri-cereals) through area expansion and productivity enhancement, restoring soil fertility and productivity at the individual farm level and enhancing farm level economy to restore confidence amongst the farmers.

RKVY-RAFTAAR:

• The governemnet recently approved Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana to be continued as Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana – Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR) for the next three years, i.e, 2017-18 to 2019-2020. RKVY Raftaar has the objective of making farming a remunerative economic activity through strengthening the farmers’ effort, risk mitigation and promoting agribusiness entrepreneurship. RKVY-RAFTAAR funds would be provided to the States as 60:40 grants between Centre and States while 90:10 for North Eastern and Himalayan States through various means.

Micro Irrigation Fund:

• In order to achieve the objective of enhancing water use efficiency in agriculture sector and bring about desired growth, Finance Minister announced in the Union Budget for 2017-18 setting up of a dedicated fund in NABARD titled “Micro Irrigation Fund”.
• The main objective of the fund is to facilitate the States in mobilizing the resources for expanding coverage of Micro Irrigation by taking up special and innovative projects and also for incentivizing micro irrigation beyond the provisions available under Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) to encourage farmers to install micro irrigation systems.

Krishi Unnati Mela:

• A National level 3rd Krishi Unnati Mela was organized and the objective of the mela was to create widespread awareness about the latest agricultural technological developments and receive feedback from the agricultural community, which helps in designing and shaping the Institute’s future research strategy.

Soil Health Card Scheme:

• Soil Health Card Scheme is under implementation in the country since February 2015 to provide Soil Health Card to all farmers in the country. Soil Health Card will provide information to farmers on soil nutrient status of their soil and recommendation on appropriate dosage of nutrient to be applied for improving soil health and its fertility. Soil Health card will be issued every 2 years for all land holdings in the country.

Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER):

• Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has launched a Central Sector Scheme entitled “Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region” for implementation in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
• The scheme aims at development of certified organic production in a value chain mode to link growers with consumers and to support the development of entire value chain starting from inputs, seeds, certification and creation of facilities for collection, aggregation, processing, marketing and brand building initiative.