Mentor’s Comment:

The question seems very important considering Mass farmer protests which erupted across the country over the past few months from Maharashtra to Bengal, with the October march in Delhi leading to violent clashes with the police.

Introduction should mention about farmers going on street which indicates agrarian crisis and also the associated factors in short. It (Intro) should not exceed more than four to five sentences.

Further, the main body should mention about the steps which should be taken in order to increase the farmers’ income. It should contain points like Fixed monthly income, infrastructure, research, increase in crop area, irrigation etc…etc…

Next, the conclusion should be based on the main points and should mention about the government’s aim to stabilize returns, creating future markets, long term policies, cold storages and trade. Apart from all the implementation of various schemes are very important.

Model Answer:

Introduction:

Farmers across the country went on a 10 day strike which was the indication of crisis in agriculture and agrarian distress. There are several reasons for this distress:

1. Real wages of farmers have been depreciated
2. Lack of Cold chain and infrastructure facilities
3. Un-favourable laws
4. Minimum Support Prices not been honoured

Following Steps can be taken to increase farmers’ income-

1. Fixed Monthly Income: Experts in this sector have argued that farmers’ incomes often are subject to several variables, including market fluctuations and weather.  This is why all measures to bolster farming — from expanding irrigation canals to providing credit — will fail unless farmers are assured a minimum monthly income.
2. Infrastructure: According to one estimate, post-harvest losses — those incurred on crops for which farmers have already spent money — for Indian farmers are around Rs 63,000 crore, which is around 70% of the investment needed to make sufficient storage facilities to avoid these losses.
3. Research: We depend on foreign universities for our research. But what we don’t understand is that their seeds and their technology are not suited for us. Our climate and soil conditions are vastly different. A major reason for mass-scale farmer suicides has been failure of imported seeds. Green Revolution was propelled by our technology, our seeds. Till the time we invest in world-class research facilities, we will not be able to stand on our two feet. Also, these research facilities should not remain confined to cities; we should set up these universities in villages where actual farming is happening.
4. Increase in crop area: The increase in crop area can be achieved by increasing cropping intensity. The cropping intensity of gross cropped area to net sown area has increased from 1.31 in 2001- 02 to 1.37 in 2009-10. The increase in cropping intensity has been possible because of expansion in irrigation, availability of suitable crop varieties and mechanization.  Farmers  can  get  high  productivity  through  this  technique  which  can  also  help  to offset the disadvantage of small farm areas.
5. Diversification of farm activities towards high-value crops and enterprises. National-level data reveals that shifting to high-value crops can more than quadruple income from the same piece of land.
6. Irrigation, which can double productivity.
7. Better price realisation for farmers through competitive markets, value chains and improved linkage between field and fork.
8. Another source is an improvement in the terms of trade for agriculture.
9. The fifth source is technology up-gradation.
10. Another important source is the shift of cultivators from farming to non-farm occupations.

Conclusion:

• The government should aim to stabilize returns to farming by creating futures markets, establishing a long-term policy on international trade and cold-storage facilities.
• The government also needs to take care that the various schemes for the agriculture and rural sectors get properly implemented.