Basic challenges like credit, insurance coverage and irrigation need to be addressed. (Representational)
The Economic Survey on Friday said there is an urgent need to address some of the basic challenges like credit, insurance coverage and irrigation facilities in order to double farmers' income by the year 2022.
There is also a need to reallocate the labour resources to other sectors, increase the focus on exploring global markets for agricultural commodities and supplementing efforts of farmers with direct income support, it said.
"The realisation of the objective of doubling farmers' income necessitates addressal of some of the basic challenges of agriculture and allied sector," according to the Economic Survey 2019-20 tabled in Parliament.
Issues such as investment in agriculture, water conservation, improved yields through better farming practices, access to market, availability of institutional credit, increasing the linkages between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors need urgent attention, it said.
According to the survey, the coverage of irrigation facilities needs to be extended while ensuring an effective water conservation mechanism.
An inclusive approach to provision for agricultural credit has to be undertaken to address the issue of skewness in its regional distribution, it said.
As the proportion of small and marginal holdings is significantly large, land reform measures like freeing up land markets can help farmers improve their income.
The Survey further said allied sectors, such as animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries, need to be given a boost to provide an assured secondary source of employment and income, especially for small and marginal farmers.
Given the fact that the livestock sector has grown at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 8 per cent over the past five years, it assumes an important role in income, employment and nutritional security, it said.
"Livestock income has become an important secondary source of income for millions of rural families and has assumed as important role in achieving the goal of doubling farmers' income," the Survey added.
The survey said there is also a need to address the issue of lower farm mechanisation in India which is only about 40 per cent as compared to about 60 per cent in China and around 75 per cent in Brazil.
As a well-developed food processing sector ensures better return to the farmers and promotes employment, the Survey said "more focussed attention" is required to be given to the sector to its significant role in reducing post-harvest losses and creation of additional market for farm outputs.
The food processing sector is growing at an average annual growth rate of more than 5 per cent over the last six years ended 2017-18, it added.