Doubling Farmers’ Income in India by 2022–23: Sources of Growth and Approaches§

The target of doubling farmers’ income in a short period requires identification of sources of income growth and enabling conditions for harnessing their growth potential. Agriculture is the main source of farmers’ income in India, and in this paper, we examine the sources of agricultural growth, and suggest technological, institutional policy options for making agriculture a remunerative enterprise. Technology is identified as one the most important sources of growth, and there are sufficient evidences to show that investment in agricultural research yields good dividends. There exist huge gaps between realized and potential yields of most crops that can be bridged to a large extent by enhancing farmers’ access to key inputs, irrigation, markets, credit and extension services. Diversification of production portfolio towards high-value crops has considerable potential to accelerate growth in agriculture and farmers’ income. However, extreme volatility in prices acts as disincentive to adopt productivity-enhancing technologies and diversification. Post-harvest management and small-scale processing would help farmers capture benefits of value addition. Effective coordination between centre and states is important in mainstreaming and channelizing policies and investment to achieve the target of doubling farmers’ income.