Agriculture Handout

Agriculture Handout
AGRICULTURE
INDEX
Sl No Topic Pg No
1. Previous Year Questions 1−4
2. Major Crops Cropping Patterns in various Parts of the Country 4−5
3. Major Agricultural Regions or Zones of India 5−8
4. Different types of Irrigation and Irrigation Systems 8−9
5. Micro Irrigation 10 − 13
6. Agriculture Marketing 13 − 19
01 Issues and Challenges 13 − 14
02 Agricultural Export Policy, 2018 14 – 16
03 E- NAM 16 – 18
04 Model Agriculture Produce and Livestock Marketing Act, 2017 18 – 19
7. E- Technology to Farmers 19 – 22
8. Farm Subsidies 23 − 25
9. Agriculture Reforms 26 − 37
01 Latest Agriculture Reforms 26 − 27
02 Minimum Support Price 27 − 30
03 Public Distribution System 30 − 34
04 Food Corporation of India 34 − 37
10. Important Agricultural Missions 37 − 42

11. Economics of Animal – Rearing 44 − 49
01 Benefits of Animal Husbandry 44 − 45
02 Challenges to Animal – Husbandry 45 – 45
03 White Revolution in India 46 – 48
04 Suggestions by NITI Aayog’s 48 – 48
05 Government Initiatives for New White Revolution 48 – 49
12. Food Processing and Related Industries in India 49 − 55
13. Land Reforms in India 55 − 60
01 Land Development banks in India 57 − 57
02 Structure of Land Development Banks 57 – 58
03 Land Records Management 58 – 59
04 Model Land Leasing Act, 2016 59 – 60
14. Miscellaneous Topics 61 –
01 Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) 61 –62
02 Farm Loan Waiver 62 – 63
03 PM-Kisan 63 – 64
15. Economic Survey 2019-20 65 – 65
16. Niti Aayog Strategy for New India 65 – 71
01 Doubling Farmer’s Income 65 – 71
17. Committees Related to Agriculture 71 – 76
01 Swaminathan Committee 71 – 72
02 Ashok Dalwai Committee on Doubling Farmers Income 73 – 76

MEP 2020 - Agriculture Handout
1. Previous Year Questions
Types of Crops and Cropping Pattern
Sl.No. Questions Year
1. Sikkim is the first ‘Organic State’ in India. What are the ecological and economical
2018
benefits of Organic State?
2. How has the emphasis on certain crops brought about changes in cropping patterns
2018
in recent past? Elaborate the emphasis on millets production and consumption.
3. What are the major reasons for declining rice and wheat yield in the cropping
system? How crop diversification is helpful to stabilize the yield of the crop in the 2017
system?
4. What is allelopathy? Discuss its role in major cropping systems of irrigated

2016
agriculture.
5. Given the vulnerability of Indian agriculture to vagaries of nature, discuss the need
for crop insurance and bring out the salient features of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal 2016
Bima Yojana (PMFBY)
Different types of Irrigation and Irrigation Systems
1. Elaborate the impact of National Watershed Project in increasing agricultural

2019
production from water-stressed areas.
2. What is water-use efficiency? Describe the role of micro-irrigation in increasing the

2016
water-use efficiency.
Storage, transport and marketing of Agricultural Produce and issues and Related
Constraints
1. In view of the declining average size of land holdings in India which has made
agriculture non-viable for a majority of farmers, should contract farming and land 2015
leasing be promoted in agriculture? Critically evaluate the pros and cons.
www.laexias.com Page 1 https://elearn.laex.in

2. There is also a point of view that agriculture produce market committees (APMCs)
set up under the state acts have not only impeded the development of agriculture 2014
but also have been the cause of food inflation in India. Critically examine.
E-Technology to Aid Farmers
1. How can the ‘Digital India’ programme help farmers to improve farm productivity
2015
and income? What steps has the Government taken in this regards?
Farm subsidies and MSP and issues therein (Direct and Indirect)
1. What do you mean by Minimum Support Price (MSP)? How will MSP rescue the
2018
farmers from the low income trap?
2. How do subsidies affect the cropping pattern, crop diversity and economy of
farmers? What is the significance of crop insurance, minimum support price and 2017
food processing for small and marginal farmers?
3. “In the villages itself no form of credit organisation will be suitable except the
cooperative society.” – All Indian rural credit survey. Discuss this statement in the
background of agriculture finance in India. What constrain and challenges do 2014
financial institutions supplying agricultural finances? How can technology be used
to better reach and serve rural clients?
PDS (objectives, Functioning, Limitations, Revamping, issues of Buffer Stocks &

Food Security)
1. Explain various types of revolutions, took place in Agriculture after Independence in

India. How these revolutions have helped in poverty alleviation and food security in 2017
India?
2. Food security bill is expected to eliminate hunger and malnutrition in India.

Critically discuss various apprehensions in its effective implementation along with 2013
the concerns it has generated in WTO

3. What are the different types of agriculture subsidies given to farmers at the national
and state levels? Critically analyze the agriculture subsidy regime with the reference 2013
to the distortions created by it.
Technology Missions
1. Assess the role of National Horticulture Mission (NHM) in boosting the production,
productivity and income of horticulture farms. How far has it succeeded in 2018
increasing the income of farmers?
Economics of Animal Rearing
1. Livestock rearing has a big potential for providing non-farm employment and
income in rural areas. Discuss suggesting suitable measures to promote this sectors 2015
in India
2. India needs to strengthen measures to promote the pink revolution in food industry
2013
for better nutrition and health. Critically elucidate the statement.
Food processing and related industries in India (scope & significance, location,
upstream-downstream requirements, supply chain management)
1. Examine the role of supermarkets in supply chain management of fruits, vegetables

2018
and food items. How do they eliminate number of intermediaries?
2. What are the reasons for poor acceptance of cost effective small processing unit?
How the food processing unit will be helpful to uplift the socio-economic status of 2017
poor farmers?
3. What are the impediments in marketing and supply chain management in industry
2015
in India? Can e-commerce help in overcoming these bottlenecks?

Land Reforms in India
1. Discuss the role of land reforms in agricultural development. Identify the factors 2016
that were responsible for the success of land reforms in India.
2. Establish the relationship between land reform, agriculture productivity and

elimination of poverty in Indian Economy. Discuss the difficulty in designing and 2013
implementation of the agriculture friendly land reforms in India.
2. Major Crops Cropping in various Parts of the Country
Cropping Patterns:
Definition: Cropping pattern refers to proportion of area under different crops at different points
of time. It also indicates the time and spatial arrangement or sequence of crops and / or fallow in
a particular land area.
Cropping Patterns in India:

● Crop diversification and intensification depends on various factors related to:
• Soil and climatic parameters,
• Resource,
• Technology,
• Infrastructure facilities,
• Condition of households,
• Socio- Economic conditions,
• Pricing Structure,
• Institutions,
• the Size of the Land Holding,
• Literacy,
• disease and Pest,
• Ecological Suitability,
• Moisture Availability,
• Financial Stability.
Categories of Crops in India:

• Based on End Usage: Food crops, cash crops, Plantation crops, Horticulture crops
• Based on Seasons: Kharif season, Rabi season, Zaid

Examples of Cropping Patterns:

Kharif
Rice based Non-Rice-Based
Relay Cropping-Seed of succeeding crops like lentil, gram, pea,

lathyrus, berseem, linseed etc. is sown through broadcasting in
maturing rice crop. It is done in both upland and lowland rice
Maize-based
culture*.
Bajra-based
Cotton-based
Mixed Varietal Cropping of Rice - Mixing the seeds of early rice
(ahu) with late maturing deep water rice (bao). It is mainly
practiced in West Bengal.
Rabi
Wheat and Gram Based Rabi-Jowar Based
These two crops are grown under identical climate and can often Along with Jowar, bajra,
Pulses, oilseeds and tobacco
be substituted for each other.
are grown as alternative crops.
3. Major Agricultural Regions or Zones of India

Rice Region:
o Rice-Jute-Tea in Assam Valley, north-west Bengal and lower Gangetic plains.
o Rice-Pulses-Millets in central Bihar, eastern Madhya Pradesh and eastern Uttar Pradesh
o Rice-Millets in entire Andhra Pradesh, southern Orissa and some parts of Tamil Nadu.
o Rice-Coffee-Spices in southern extremity of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Wheat Region:
o Wheat-Maize-Sugarcane in West Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu.
o Wheat-Jowar-Bajra in Indus Plain covering Punjab and Haryana.
o Wheat-Jowar-Bajra in Vindhyan scarp land and Malwa Bundelkhand plateau.
Jowar-Bajra Region:
o Jowar-Cotton in Maharashtra.
o Jowar-Cotton-Oilseeds-Millets in Karnataka and Maharashtra.
o Jowar-Wheat in entire Rajasthan, Haryana and some parts of Uttar Pradesh.
o Bajra-Jowar-Pulses in Rajasthan desert and semi-desert areas.
Cotton Region:
o Cotton-Jowar-Bajra grows in close association with one another in the Maharashtra and
Western Madhya Pradesh.
o Cotton-Oilseeds combination developed in Gujarat.
o Cotton-Pulses-Rice region developed in Narmada banks and Eastern Gujarat.
Millet-Maize Region:
o dominates in Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh.
o Himachal Pradesh, Maize-Barley-wheat combination has developed
o Aravalli have the peculiar crop combination of Maize-Cotton-Oilseeds-Millets-Wheat
o Ragi in South of Karnataka.
Maize based cropping systems:

o Maize-wheat ranks 1st having 1.8 m ha area mainly concentrated in rainfed ecologies
o Rice-maize has emerged a potential maize-based cropping system in peninsular and eastern
India.
Fruit & Spice Region:

o ‘Duns’ and valleys in the Himalayas, foothills of Nilgiri, Annamalai, Palni and Cardamom hills
in Tamil Nadu and Kerala
Key Issues in Indian Agriculture Cropping Pattern:

• MSP has skewed the cropping pattern towards Rice and Wheat based

• Dominance of food crops over non-food crops

• Horticulture has recently surpassed foodgrains.
• Dominance of cereals among food crops
• Decline in coarse cereals: irrigation and consumption pattern change
• Declining importance in Kharif crops: vagaries of monsoon
Issue of Low Productivity:

The existing yield levels of a majority of crops in India remains much lower than the world average.
Causes of Low Productivity in India:

• About 53 percent area is water stressed.
• The rainwater management practices and services are resource starved.
• According to Annual Employment – Unemployment Survey, about 45 percent of labour
force is in agriculture. This leads to overcrowding of agriculture.
• Low adoption of technology is low in rural areas. Illiteracy, low scientific temper take a toll
on the productivity.
• An obsessive focus on inflation targeting by suppressing food prices through myriad
controls works against the farmer.
• According to agriculture census 2015-16, the average landholding size is 1.08ha which
prevents farmers from taking advantage of economies of scale.
• Informal land tenancy and unclear land records means that farmers have low access to
credit and low investment in productivity increasing techniques and technology.
• Low level of seed replacement rate.
Measures to Improve Productivity:

• Efficient use of water and move towards micro irrigation – Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee
Yojana.
• More area can be brought under irrigation through National Water Grid.
• Decongesting agriculture through moving labour out of agriculture – food processing and
other labour intensive industries.
• Increased mechanization and adoption of technology in rural areas.
• Compensating for suppressed farm produce prices through schemes like PM AASHA, PM
Kisan, etc
• Cooperative farming, Farmer Producer Companies, etc to achieve economies of scale.

• Formalizing tenancy as per Model Land Tenancy Act to enable access to credit and
investment.
• Agriculture Extension and informing the farmers about the need to increase the seed
replacement rates.
Asafoetida (Heeng) cultivation in Himalayan Region:

• High-value spice crop in India.
• Raw asafoetida is extracted from the fleshy roots of Ferula assafoetida as an oleo-gum resin.
• Heeng is not cultivated in India.
• Government data states that India imports about 1,200 tonnes of raw heeng worth Rs 600
crore from Iran, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.
4. Different types of Irrigation and Irrigation Systems
Definition:
Irrigation is the artificial application of water to land for the purpose of agricultural production.
Effective irrigation will influence the entire growth process from seedbed preparation, germination,
root growth, nutrient utilization, plant growth and re-growth, yield and quality.
Current Scenario:
• Out of about 141 mha of net area sown in the country, about 65 million hectare (or 45%) is
presently covered under irrigation.
• Substantial dependence on rainfall makes cultivation in unirrigated areas a high risk, less
productive profession.
Total Water available 4000 BCM

Water available after evapotranspiration 1869 BCM
Utilizable water potential 1123 BCM
Surface Water 690 BCM
Ground Water 433 BCM

Types:
Issues and Challenges in Indian Irrigation:

● Low Rainfall:
o While average annual rainfall is 1170 mm, some parts of north east get around 10000 mm
per year, while parts of western Rajasthan get only 100 mm. Around 68% of total net
sown area fall under either lower or low rainfall.
● Poor Utilization of Irrigation Facilities:

o Over 60 % of the total 142 million hectares of farmland in the country is not covered under
irrigation.
● Low Irrigation Efficiency:

o 5 states account for 78% of progress in micro-irrigation. (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,
Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu). So rest are behind.
o Subsidized electricity to farms leads to over exploitation of ground water and flood
irrigation.
● Ineffective Groundwater Policy:

o UNESCO World Water Development Report states that India is the largest extractor of
groundwater in the world
o Subsidies on electricity and high MSP for water intensive crops is also leading reasons for
depletion.
● Increasing Demand of Water:
o Agriculture sector is using about 83 per cent of available water resources, but demand
from other sectors may reduce availability for agricultural use to 68% by 2050.
● Surface Water Over Exploitation:
o Surging population, increasing industrialization are increasing demands on freshwater/
surface water resulting in mindless overexploitation.
● Climate Change Challenges:
o Temperature drives the hydrological cycle, and influences hydro-logical processes in a
direct or indirect way. A warmer climate may lead to intensification of the hydro-logical
cycle, resulting in higher rates of evaporation and increase of liquid precipitation.

5. Micro Irrigation
Micro Irrigation refers to the slow application of water on localized volume of soil by surface
drip, subsurface drip, bubbler, and micro sprinkler systems. Water applies in such irrigation wets a
part of the soil so it is also called localized irrigation.
Status of Micro Irrigation in India:

• About 5.5% of irrigated area in India is under micro irrigation.
• The task force on micro irrigation has estimated a potential of 69.5 million hectares
under micro irrigation whereas the area covered under micro irrigation so far is only 10
million hectares.
Benefits of Micro Irrigation:

• Higher Profits
• Water Saving & Water Use Efficiency (WUE)
• Less Energy Costs
• Higher fertilizer-use efficiency (FUE)
• Reduced Labour Costs
• Reduce Soil Loss
• Marginal Solis & Water
• Efficient & Flexible
• Improved Crop Quality
• Higher Yields
Multiple definitions of farmer:

• There are multiple definitions for a ‘farmer’ in official data published by the Government of
India.
• The population census defines ‘cultivators’ as a person engaged in cultivation of land either
‘owned’ or held in kind or share.
• The 59th round of the Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) of farmers also stresses on
‘possession of land’ either owned or leased or otherwise possessed for defining ‘farmers’.
• Delinking of land as the defining criterion for a ‘farmer’ was done in the 70th round of SAS
carried out by the NSSO.
• The 70th Round of NSSO refined the definition of a farmer as one who earns a major part of the
income from farming.
Government Initiatives:
1. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY):
o To ensure access to some means of protective irrigation to all agricultural farms in the
country, to produce ‘per drop more crop’, thus bringing much desired rural prosperity.
o The aim of PMKSY is not only the creation of assured irrigation but to create protected
irrigation by using rainwater by “Jal Sanchay” and “Jal Sinchan”.
o It has the following components

• Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP): To focus on faster completion of

ongoing Major and Medium Irrigation including National Projects.
• PMKSY- HarKhetkoPani: Enhance the physical access of water on the farm and expand
cultivable area under assured irrigation
• PMKSY - Per Drop More Crop: Installation of Micro Irrigation Systems (Drip & Sprinkler)
in fields, extension activities, coordination & management.
• PMKSY - Watershed Development: Effective management of runoff water and improved
soil & moisture conservation activities such as ridge area treatment, drainage line 5
treatment, rain water harvesting, in - situ moisture conservation and other allied
activities on watershed basis and converging efforts with MGNREGS for the above.
2. Micro Irrigation Fund:

Cabinet approves Corpus for Micro Irrigation Fund with NABARD under Pradhan Mantri Krishi
Sinchayee Yojana
Details:
• The allocation of Rs. 2,000 crore and Rs. 3,000 crore will be utilised during 2018-19 and 2019-
20 respectively.
• NABARD will extend the loan to State Governments during this period. Borrowings from
NABARD shall be paid back in 7 years including the grace period of two years.
• The lending rate under MIF has been proposed at 3% lower than the cost of raising the fund by
NABARD.
• This cost shall be met from the ongoing scheme of PMKSY-PDMC by amending the existing
guidelines.
• The total financial implication on interest subvention comes to about Rs 750 crore.
Benefits:
• It would supplement the efforts of Per Drop More Crop Component (PDMC) of PMKSY in an
effective and timely manner.
• With the additional investment for micro irrigation accessing MIF, innovative composite/
commodity/ community/ cluster based micro irrigation projects/ proposals may bring about
10 lakh ha.
• The Fund will facilitate States to mobilize resources for their initiatives, including additional
(top up subsidy) in implementation of PMKSY-PDMC to achieve the annual target of about 2
Million ha/year during the remaining period of 14thFinance Commission under Per Drop More
Crop Component of PMKSY as recommended by the Group of Secretaries.

3. Comprehensive Water Management Index (CWMI)

To supplement the efforts of Jal Shakti Ministry, NITI Aayog has prepared the second Round of
Composite Water Management Index (CWMI 2.0).
About CWMI:
• NITI Aayog first launched and conceptualized the Composite Water Management Index in
2018 as a tool to install the sense of cooperative and competitive federalism among the
states.
• This was a first ever attempt at creating a pan-India set of metrics that measured different
dimensions of water management and use across the lifecycle of water.
• The report was widely acknowledged and provided actionable guidance to States on where
they were doing well absolutely and relatively and what they needed to focus on to secure
their water future.
• CWMI aims to enable effective water management in Indian states in the face of this
growing crisis.
• The index would provide useful information for the states and concerned Central
ministries and departments enabling them to formulate and implement suitable strategies for
better management of water resources.
• NITI Aayog has ranked all states in the index on the composite water management,
comprising 9 broad sectors with 28 different indicators covering various aspects of ground
water, restoration of water bodies, irrigation, farm practices, drinking water, policy and
governance.
Key Performers:
• Gujarat is ranked one in the reference year (2017-18).
• It is followed by Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
• In North Eastern and Himalayan States, Himachal Pradesh has been adjudged number 1 in
2017-18 followed by Uttarakhand, Tripura and Assam.
• The Union Territories have first time submitted their data and Puducherry has been declared
as the top ranker.
• In terms of incremental change in index (over 2016-17 level), Haryana holds number one
position in general States and Uttarakhand ranks at first position amongst North Eastern
and Himalayan States.
• On an average, 80% of the states assessed on the Index over the last three years have
improved their water management scores, with an average improvement of +5.2 points.
Key Findings and Concerns:
• Even as states are making progress in water management, the overall performance remains
well below what is required to adequately tackle India’s water challenges.
• Of the 25 states and two union territories, assessed in the CWMI, 80 per cent have improved
their water management scores, with an average improvement of more than 5.2 points. But, 16
states still score less than 50 points on the index (out of 100) and fall in the low-performing
category.

• The low-performing states, which include Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Delhi,
Rajasthan, Nagaland and Meghalaya, collectively account for around 48 per cent of the
population, 40 per cent of agricultural produce and 35 per cent of economic output of India.
• The report cautioned that urban hubs are likely to witness severe water shortages in the
future. This which could risk growth and reduce quality of life for citizens in urban areas.
Punjab’s Farm Bills:

• It prohibit private players from buying wheat and paddy below the MSP even outside the APMC
markets.
• It doesn’t apply to other crops, say maize, cotton, pulses and oilseeds that are under the ambit
of the central MSP system.
• The point is that this pertains only to wheat and paddy.
• The bill could even have been extended to milk and vegetables by declaring local MSPs for
them, but it didn’t do that.
• Because the state government knows full well that it will create a fiasco in agri-markets, which
might boomerang on it politically.
• Law for wheat and paddy will not help farmers as the Centre already buys more than 95 per
cent of Punjab’s wheat and paddy at MSP through the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and
state procurement agencies.
Kisan Rail:
• Indian Railways introduced the first “Kisan Rail” from Devlali (Maharashtra) to Danapur
(Bihar).
• This train will help in bringing perishable agricultural products like vegetables, fruits to the
market in a short period of time.
• multi-commodity train
• Storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints
6. Agriculture Marketing
Agricultural marketing covers all the activities in the movement of agricultural products from the
farms to the consumers.
01. Issues and Challenges
● Highly regulated markets: Under the present APMC Act, only registered intermediaries at
regulated markets can sell farm produce. These restrictions create artificial barriers and
unnecessarily hinder free flow of agricultural commodities in India.
● Fragmented Markets: There are about 2500 regulated APMCs and around 5000 sub-market
yards regulated by the respective APMCs, along with many Rural markets or Grameen
Markets. These fragmented marketing infrastructure lead to escalation in the cost of prices
and prevents the farmer from getting remunerative prices.

● Many fees in APMCs: These fees are considered to be around 15% of the value of agricultural
produce in some of the states and these lead to escalation of cost of prices of farm produce.
● Post-harvest losses: This happens due to fragmented markets, lack of access to proper
storage, poor transport facilities.
● Other APMC issues:
o Issue of middlemen
o No grading facilities
o Even perishables have to go through APMCs
o Storage facility: Lack of storage facility (cold storage) and
o Cold chain infrastructure: Lack of cold chain infrastructure to transport from Mandi to
cold storage/customer.
● Contract farming:
o There’s no legal backing / laws to recognize contract farming
● State subject:
o There is lack of uniformity throughout. While the Centre has a model Act for APMC
regulation, it is up to the states to implement.
Lessons from Bihar’s abolition of its APMC system for farmers (Complete Abolition of
APMC in Bihar)
• The Bihar experiment has important lessons for future marketing reforms in agriculture.
• The benefits of these reforms will only accrue to farmers if they are accompanied by private
investment in creating the physical infrastructure and institutional mechanisms needed to
allow for greater participation of farmers.
• The record of states on attracting private investment isn’t much better.
Initiatives:
• To address structural issues in agricultural marketing, the following initiatives have been
taken by the government.
02. Agricultural Export Policy, 2018
• The Government has come out with a policy to double farmers’ income by 2022. Exports of
agricultural products would play a pivotal role in achieving this goal. In order to provide an
impetus to agricultural exports, the Government has come out with a comprehensive
“Agriculture Export Policy” aimed at doubling the agricultural exports and integrating Indian
farmers and agricultural products with the global value chains. The Agriculture Export Policy
has the following vision:
• “Harness export potential of Indian agriculture, through suitable policy instruments, to make
India global power in agriculture and raise farmers’ income.”
Objectives of the Agriculture Export Policy Areas under:

● To double agricultural exports from present ~US$ 30+ Billion to ~US$ 60+ Billion by 2022 and
reach US$ 100 Billion in the next few years thereafter, with a stable trade policy regime.
● To diversify our export basket, destinations and boost high value and value added agricultural
exports including focus on perishables.
● To promote novel, indigenous, organic, ethnic, traditional and non-traditional Agri products
exports.
● To provide an institutional mechanism for pursuing market access, tackling barriers and deal
with sanitary and phyto-sanitary issues.
● To strive to double India’s share in world agri exports by integrating with global value chain at
the earliest.
● Enable farmers to get benefit of export opportunities in overseas market.
Elements of Agriculture Export Policy:

• The recommendations in the Agriculture Export Policy have been organised in two categories –
Strategic and Operational – as detailed below:
Strategic Recommendations:
1. Policy Measures: Discussions with public and private stakeholders across the agricultural
value chain highlighted certain structural changes that were required to boost agricultural
exports. These comprise of both general and commodity specific measures that may be
urgently taken and at little to no financial cost. The subsequent gains, however, are aplenty.
2. Infrastructure and Logistics: Presence of robust infrastructure is critical component of a
strong agricultural value chain. This involves pre-harvest and post-harvest handling facilities,
storage & distribution, processing facilities, roads and world class exit point infrastructure at
ports facilitating swift trade. Mega Food Parks, state-of-the-art testing laboratories and
Integrated Cold Chains are the fundamentals on which India can increase its agricultural
exports. Given the perishable nature and stringent import standards for most of the food
products, efficient and time-sensitive handling is extremely vital to agricultural commodities
3. Holistic approach to boost exports: Agricultural exports are determined by supply side
factors, food security, processing facilities, infrastructure bottlenecks and several regulations.
This involves multiple ministries and state departments. Strategic and operational synergy
across ministries will be key to boosting productivity and quality.
4. Greater involvement of State Governments in Agriculture Exports
Operational Recommendations:
1. Focus on Clusters: There is a need to evolve and put in place institutional mechanism for
effective involvement and engagement of small and medium farmers for entire value chain as
group enterprise(s) within cluster of villages at the block level for select produce(s). This will
help to realize actual benefit and empowerment of farming community to double their income
through entire value chain.
2. Promoting value added exports
o Product development for indigenous commodities and value addition
o Promote value added organic exports
o Promotion of R & D activities for new product Development for the upcoming markets
o Skill development

3. Marketing and promotion of “Brand India”

4. Attract private investments in export oriented activities and infrastructure.
5. Establishment of Strong Quality Regimen
6. Research and Development - Agricultural research and development (R&D) led by private
industry along with higher infrastructure spend by the government will be the key to boosting
agricultural exports.
7. Miscellaneous - Creation of Agri-start-up fund: Entrepreneurs are to be supported to start a
new venture in Agri products exports during their initial period of establishment.
Model APMC Act:

o As per the act, the State is divided into several market areas, each of which is administered
by a separate Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) which impose its own
marketing regulation (including fees).
o Apart from that, legal persons, growers, and local authorities are permitted to apply for the
establishment of new markets for agricultural produce in any area.
o There will be no compulsion on the growers to sell their produce through existing markets
administered by the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC).
o Separate provision is made for notification of ‘Special Markets’ in any market area for
specified agricultural commodities.
o Provision for Contract Farming, allowing direct sale of farm produce to contract farming
sponsor from farmer’s field.
o Single point levy of market fee on the sale of notified agricultural commodities in any
market area.
o Provision made for resolving disputes arising between private market/ consumer market
and Market.
o Provides for the creation of marketing infrastructure from the revenue earned by the APMC.
03. E-NAM
• National Agriculture Market (eNAM) is a pan-India electronic trading portal which

networks the existing APMC mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural
commodities
• 115 wholesale regulated markets have been integrated with e-NAM platform to achieve
the target of total 585 e-NAM markets in 16 States and 2 Union Territories.
• Benefits of e-NAM:
o Transparent price discovery:
o Farmers produce can find the best price through online auction and a monopoly of
neighbourhood markets can't stop bids from interstate operators.
o Farmers have bargaining power and can wait for an expected price quote from a trader,
buyer or processor.

o Reduce post-harvest losses

o Timely auction and price prediction can help farmers harvest and transport accordingly to
ensure minimum post-harvest losses.
o NAM will lead to construction of cold chain and logistics which can further reduce the
harvest losses.
o Increase farmers income
o Transparent price discovery will help farmers sell for a better price.
o Single point levy of market fees help farmers from multiple mandi fees.
o Reduction in intermediary cost will ensure farmers spend less to market their produce.
• Issues/Challenges:
o Lack of quality testing labs in markets to grade the produce.
o Lack of investment in technology by the APMC in spite of collecting many types of fees.
● Venture Capital Assistance:

o In order to encourage Agri-prenures to set up Agri-based processing Units directly or
indirectly benefiting the small and marginal farmers, SFAC has sanctioned VCA to 484
Projects in 2018 alone.
• Formation of Farmer Producer Companies:

o Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs): 22 Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) were formed
and registered involving 22000 farmers during January to December 2018
o Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs): As of December 2018, total of 773 FPOs have been
registered and 123 FPOs are under the process of registration.
• Upgradation and development of rural haats as Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs):

o The Committee noted that the aim of the Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAM) scheme is to
improve the infrastructure and civic facilities in Gramin Haats across the country. Under
the scheme, 4,600 of the existing 22,000 Haats will be developed and upgraded using
MGNREGA and other government schemes.
• Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI):

o Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI) sub scheme of Integrated Scheme of
Agricultural Marketing (ISAM) is also in place till 2020.
• Model Contract Farming Act:

o The Government has formulated and released a progressive and facilitative Model Act in
May 2018 for its adoption by States/UTs
o The Act covers the entire value and supply chain from pre-production to post harvest
marketing including services contract for the agricultural produce and livestock.

Way Forward:
NAM can be made a unified platform from the stage of sowing seeds till the produce is sold by using
technology and tools like the soil health card, compulsory insurance can help realise the
government's goal of doubling farmers income.
• Promotion of nutri-cereals (Millet crop) in India:
o Major millet crops currently growing in India are jowar (sorghum), bajra (pearl millet) and
ragi (finger millet).
o “Small millets” like kodo, kutki, chenna and sanwa also grown.
• Strategy for promotion of nutri-cereals:
o Rebranding the cereals as nutri-cereals
o Incentive through hiking MSP
o Providing steady markets through inclusion in PDS
o Increasing area, production and yield Intersection of agriculture and nutrition.
04. Model Agriculture Produce and Livestock Marketing Act, 2017
Salient Features:
1. A state government may declare the whole state as a single unified market area.
2. In such an area, a single license will be applicable for the trade of agricultural produce and
livestock.
3. Market Committee: A Market Committee will manage market yards in a specified area, and
will be responsible for:
a) Regulating the auction of agricultural produce and livestock.
b) Providing facilities for marketing of agricultural produce and livestock.
c) The Committee may also link consumers with farmers through digital technology and
manage these market yards through PPPs.
4. Apart from market yards managed by the Market Committees, private market yards may be
set up by private individuals to facilitate operations of traders, and commission agents.
Issues in implementing Model APLM Act:

1. Only some states have implemented APLM Act fully.
2. The model Act asks the APLMC to ensure that traders do not hoard produce but no
measures to prevent it are specified.
3. The act does not deal with issues in the livestock sector which is a very important sector of
the agribusiness economy.
4. By clubbing the farm produce and livestock into one legislation, it also fails to recognize that
the dynamics of these markets are very different in terms of perishability, frequency, and
nature of transactions.
5. Most disappointingly, the Act ignores the vexed issue of the role of Arthiyas (commission
agents or CAs) in the APMCs and maintains them as central agents in the system.

Way Forward:
1. Removal of entry barriers: Allow buyers to participate across all markets with a single
license. Allow farmers to sell in any market of their choice.
2. Assist price discovery: Auction of the produce should take place simultaneously on the
electronic platform in all regulated markets all over the country.
3. Standardized scientific assaying and grading: Reliable assaying and quality testing
infrastructure have to be established in every market, and quality-based bidding must be
encouraged.
4. Electronic settlement of sales: Collection of sale proceeds from the buyer and remitting it to
the bank account of the seller must be facilitated by the market;
5. Removal of controls: Restrictions on inter- and intra-state transportation of commodities
should be removed.
6. Move to a warehouse-based trading system: In the longer term, the marketing system needs
to transform into a warehouse-based trading system.
7. Involvement of other stakeholders: Participation of private players along with farmer
producer organizations (FPOs) should be encouraged.
8. Improve market infrastructure: Existing physical infrastructure related to logistics, supply
chain, storage should be improved.
9. New institutional mechanisms: besides the PPP model, the build-operate-transfer model also
needs to be explored. Formation of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) can be a way forward to
implement the strategy.
10. E-technology in the aid of farmers.
7. E- Technology to Farmers

E-Technology in agriculture refers to the usage of IT and related technology to enhance

productivity of farm produce.
Digital technology includes spectrum of technologies like telecom (telephone, cable, satellite, and
computer networks), computing (computers, intranet, internet, software and mobile phones), and
broadcasting (radio and TV tech).
Benefits of E-Technology to Farmers:

In the context of agriculture, Information technology can be used as a direct tool to contribute to
productivity and also as an indirect tool to empower farmers to take informed quality decisions.
1. Improved Decision Making: By having the necessary information, farmers can make better
and informed decision concerning their agricultural activities.
2. Better Planning: There are farming software which keep track of crops, predict yields,
analysis soils, suggest nutritional and water requirement.
3. Community Involvement: Many IT applications help in increasing community involvement in
agriculture. This helps in discussing ground level problems and sharing solutions among
themselves and with the authorities who can help.
4. Agricultural Breakthroughs: Latest scientific developments and technological breakthroughs
concerning agriculture can reach the farmers in no time.
5. Agriculture for Everyone: Simple IT applications like YouTube video application, benefit
interested individuals to become backyard farmers growing their own sustainable gardens.
Issues:
Some of the constraints slowing the penetration of digital technology to farmers include:
1. Power supply: Lack Continuous power supply may effect technologies like mobile operated
farm equipment or mobile operated crop monitoring devices.
2. Connectivity: Lack of reliable and affordable connectivity to rural and tribal areas.
3. Bandwidth: Even if telephone and communication services exist in the common service
centres, low bandwidth is a major limitation in providing effective e-services to farmers.
4. User friendliness: Complex interfaces; language and readability of content pose constraints in
dissipating information to the farmers.
5. Plethora of Apps: Redundant and duplicate efforts are done by different organizations and
ministries resulting in many apps for the same purpose. This creates unnecessary confusion
and redundancy of services.
6. Common dissemination points: Village level kiosks are to be installed to disseminate
information and also to literate farmers on the usage of internet based content and services.
7. Investment and Financing: Unaffordable digital devices like smart phones, routers, smart
farm equipment discourage farmers from using the latest digital technologies.
Initiatives:
1. Bhuvan app: ISRO and National Remote sensing centre (NRSC) together developed a web
portal on the Bhuvan app integrating GIS and smart phone.

2. National e Governance Plan- Agriculture: Mission mode project by Central government to

improve access to information related to latest technology. Dissemination of information is
done through Common Service Centres, Web Portals, SMS and Kisan Call centres and Mobile
Apps etc.
3. mKisan Portal: registered farmers can connect to scientists and experts from different
departments of central and state governments.
4. Farmers’ portal: developed as a ‘one stop shop’ for accessing information about seed varieties,
dealer network of seeds, common pests, fertilizers and pesticides, machinery and
meteorological advisories.
5. Soil health card portal: developed for to test soil samples and give appropriate fertilizer
recommendations.
6. eNamportal: It aims to integrate the mandis which enables a farmer to sell his produce
anywhere in India depending on the highest price which means a trader in Mumbai can buy a
farmer’s produce kept in a mandi of Delhi.
7. Mobile app Crop Insurance: This app uses Remote sensing technology where smart phones
capture and upload data. This helps in reducing in the delays in the claim payment to farmers.
8. Kisan Portal: It provides customized weather based advice on mobiles at various stages of
farming.
9. DD Kisan: A 24 hour television channel has been dedicated to Indian agriculture.
10. AgriMarket Mobile: used by farmers to get market prices of crops in wholesale markets within
50 km radius of the device.
11. Apart from these, remote sensing satellites of ISRO like Cartosat1 and 2, Resource sat , RISAT
provide all weather, all-day monitoring which helps in latest weather information and disaster
management.
12. In Nov 2018, ISRO has launched its first Hyper Spectral imaging Satellite (HysiS) which helps
agriculture and defence sectors.
New Initiatives:
• A pilot ‘Aquaponics facility’ has been developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced
Computing (C-DAC), Mohali at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary University (GADVASU)-Ludhiana
• Union Minister for Textiles unveiled a brand and a logo for Indian cotton-Kastoori cotton
recently on the occasion of 2nd World Cotton Day on 7th October 2020.
• University of Sydney in collaboration with other partners have been developing an app i.e.
Paddy watch, which will act as the first real-time monitoring platform for rice fields+
collaboration with Google Earth and the Group on Earth Observations (GEO).
• Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has added the Indian
Meteorological Department (IMD) weather services to the Umang Mobile App.
Way Forward:
In Spite of many government and private initiatives, there is still a lot of gaps in the potential and
usage of e technologies. Challenges have to be focused improve adoption of digital technologies.

1. Power supply: Continuous power supply must be ensured. Usage of alternate renewable
energy sources like solar, waste-to-energy technologies have to be encouraged.
2. Connectivity:
(a) Reliable and affordable connectivity to rural and tribal areas by involving the private
sector technological giants like Microsoft, Google, Facebook to improve internet
penetration.
(b) Speeding up of Bharat Net Project or National Optical Fiber Network(NOFN) which aims
on digitally connecting 2.5 lakh villages.
(c) Multimedia platforms like Television programs, Radio, newspaper, mobile, and internet
are must.
3. Bandwidth:
(a) Improving the Bandwidth in the rural and tribal kiosks.
(b) Periodic updation of bandwidth requirement.
(c) Involving private sector investments to provide high speed bandwidth services at
affordable rates.
4. User Friendliness: Since digital literacy is low, it's important to design the interface and
content in a user friendly way using local languages, graphics based presentation, user
manuals and videos based training to farmers.
5. Plethora of Apps:
(a) Inter-ministerial cooperation to avoid duplication of efforts is needed.
(b) A common website citing active and pertinent apps, portals must be set up and advertised
properly.
6. Common Dissemination Points :

(a) Rural agricultural graduates can employed to act as an interface at the kiosks to provide
necessary digital know-how.
(b) Kiosks can be designed as information sources and also to handle other services needed
at the rural level.
(c) Major focus is needed on viable revenue model for such kiosks. This can even attract
private investors.
7. Investment and Financing:

(a) Investments in smart farm technologies is the end of the hour.
(b) Encouraging private investments helps in affordability of digital technologies relevant to
farmers.
(c) This way, we can utilize the potential of ICT to revolutionize Indian agriculture.

8. Farm Subsidies
Direct and Indirect Subsidies
Definition:
● Subsidy: A subsidy is a benefit given to an individual, business, or institution, usually by the
government.
o It is usually in the form of a cash payment or a tax reduction.
o The subsidy is typically given to remove some type of burden, and it is often considered to
be in the overall interest of the public, given to promote a social good or an economic
policy.
● Direct subsidy: Those type of subsidies where the government transfers money to the ultimate
beneficiary through formal procedures.
Example: Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG
Benefits of Direct Subsidy:

• Targeting: Cash transfer have better targeting by reducing pilferages and directly transferring
to beneficiary accounts.
• Government Burden: Reduced government burden freeing from transportation and storage
costs
• Efficiency: Cash travel faster than kind and benefits are delivered immediately to the
beneficiary accounts.
• More Freedom to spend: on different consumption needs of different households.
• Financial Inclusion: 99% of households have Bank accounts which makes it easier to transfer
cash to beneficiaries.

Issues of Direct Subsidy:

• Lack of Awareness: is leading to not witness the full potential of Direct Subsidy
• Accessibility: Even with universal financial inclusion, accessibility to banking services in
rural areas is very poor.
• IT Infrastructure: to verify the beneficiaries and provide services is very poor
• Not insulated for inflation: Cash supply can cause inflation and Cash transfers are not
insulated for inflation.
● Indirect subsidy: Those type of subsidies which do not involve any direct transfers or
payments. These can be in the form of price reduction, welfare mechanisms, cheaper credits,
insurance facilities, farm loan waivers, etc. Example: PDS subsidy.
• Benefits of indirect subsidies:
• Targeted development: development of priority areas which are not developed.
Issues of Indirect Subsidies:

• Not progressive: Mostly beneficial to the big players as the poor and unorganized depend on
cash and have less access to formal channels.
• Skewed: Indirect subsidies is one of the reasons why Indian agriculture has become
cerealcentric, regionally biased, and input intensive.
• Trade distorting: Sometimes they also tend to distort the trade at national as well as global
level.
Types of Agricultural Subsidies in India:

1. Input subsidies: The can be granted through distribution of inputs at prices that are less
than the standard market price for these inputs.
(a) Fertilizer subsidy: Distribution of cheap chemical or non-chemical fertilizers among the
farmers.
(b) Irrigation Subsidy: Subsidies to the farmers which the government bears on account of
providing proper irrigation facilities. It is the difference between operating and
maintenance cost of irrigation infrastructure in the state and irrigation charges recovered
from farmers.
(c) Power Subsidy: The electricity subsidies imply that the government charges low rates for
the electricity supplied to the farmers.
(d) Seed Subsidies: High yielding seeds at low prices. The research and development
activities needed to produce such productive seeds.
(e) Credit Subsidy: It is the difference between interest charged from farmers, and actual
cost of providing credit, plus other costs such as write-offs bad loans.
2. Price Subsidy: It is the difference between the price of food-grains at which FCI procures food-
grains from farmers, and the price at which PCI sells either to traders or to the PDS.

3. Infrastructural Subsidy:
(a) Good roads, storage facilities, power, information about the market, transportation to the
ports, etc. are vital for carrying out production and sale operations.
(b) Private efforts in many areas do not prove to be sufficient to improve agricultural
production.
(c) Therefore the government takes the responsibility of providing these and given the
condition of Indian farmers a lower price can be charged from the poorer farmers.
4. Export Subsidies: Subsides provided to encourage exports are referred as export subsidies.
When a farmer or exporter sells agricultural products in foreign market, he earns money for
himself, as well as foreign exchange for the country. Therefore, agricultural exports are
generally encouraged as long as these do not harm the domestic economy.
Issues with agricultural subsidies in India:

1. Drain on public finance: The government spent about Rs. 2.56 lakh crore on various
subsidies for the farm sector in 2018-19.
2. Capital Investment: Subsidies are reducing the share of money that goes for capital
investment. This, in turn, is a key reason for the sufferings of farmers. Today, only about 15%
of the APMCs have cold storage facilities. Also, less than 50% of mandis in the country have
weighing machines.
3. Unregulated use - The other concern due to input subsidies for agriculture is the unmindful
use of resources such as water and power. Input subsidies including those on urea have
resulted in overuse of nitrogenous fertilizers and spoilt soil health. Likewise, subsidies on
power have resulted in depletion of the groundwater.
4. Cropping pattern - Subsidies have also skewed the cropping pattern, which has, in the
process, taken a toll on the environment as well. Monoculture has resulted in an increase in
pest and disease attacks on crops and higher usage of chemical fertilizers.
5. Evidently, subsidy-driven agriculture is not sustainable.
Solutions to problems of farm subsidies:

1. Rationalizing subsidies - Subsidies could be linked to the size of the farm-holding, rather
than offering them to every other farmer.
2. Direct transfers - The government can see if these subsidies can be paid via DBT (Direct
Benefit Transfer) so as to plug leakages.
3. Capital Investment - Gradually, the government should withdraw subsidies and possibly
convert them to capital investments in the sector. The impact of capital investment on both
agricultural yield and poverty will be far higher than that of subsidies.
4. Exports - There is the need for long-term policies on export trade, for the government
departments to engage with exporters on a regular basis. This can help keep farmers aligned
with the global demand/supply and price situations.
5. Technical committee - There are talks about a technical committee with ICAR-NIAP as
knowledge partner to work on building an agri-market intelligence system. This process needs
to be fast-tracked. The system will put out price and demand forecasts for various major food
grains and price-sensitive horticulture crops.
6. Land - The government should look at ways of aggregating the small land-holdings and help
farmers draw benefit from farm mechanization.

9. Agriculture Reforms
Current Scenario:
• The government spent about Rs. 2.56-lakh crore on various subsidies for the farm sector in
2018-19.
• This is an increase of 43% over the previous year; the rise is primarily due to the higher MSP
on crops.
• For 2019-20, farm subsidies are set to increase further to Rs.2.77-lakh crore.
01. Latest Agriculture Reforms
Cabinet has approved a proposal to promulgate three separate ordinances to push agriculture
marketing and commodities trade reforms in the country.(june-2020)
1. Amendments to Essential Commodities Act (1955):

Advantages of Amendments:
• Would deregulate the commodities such as cereals, edible oils, oilseeds, pulses, onions and
potatoes.
• It will help to lessen the fears of private investors of excessive regulatory interference in their
business operations.
• Any limits under ECA over these commodities will be imposed only in exceptional
circumstances (war, famine, extraordinary price rise and natural calamity)
• The freedom to produce, hold, move, distribute and supply will lead to harnessing economies
of scale and attract private sector/foreign direct investment into the agriculture sector
• It will help drive up investment in cold storages and modernization of the food supply chain.
Importance of this move:
• Bringing in price stability.
• Create a competitive market environment
• Step towards transformation of agriculture and raising farmers’ income.
2. Farming Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020
Advantages of Ordinance:
• Create an ecosystem where the farmers and traders would enjoy freedom of choice of sale and
purchase of agri-produce.
• Promote barrier-free inter-state and intra-state trade and commerce
• Proposes an electronic trading in transaction platform
• Set up a separate dispute resolution mechanism for the farmers.
Importance of Ordinance:
• Open more choices for the farmer, reduce marketing costs for the farmers
• Supplement the existing Minimum Support Price (MSP) procurement system
• To pave the way for creating One India, One Agriculture Market in the country.
3. Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm
Services Ordinance, 2020
Advantages of ordinance:
• Empower farmer by eliminating intermediaries resulting in full realization of price.
• Effective dispute resolution mechanism
• Transfer the risk of market unpredictability from the farmer to the sponsor.
Importance:
• To access modern technology and better inputs.
• Reduce cost of marketing
• Attract private sector investment for building supply chains
02. Minimum Support Price
Definition: Minimum Support Price (MSP) is the minimum price set by the government for certain
agricultural products, at which the products would directly be bought from the farmers if the open
market prices are less than the cost incurred.
Features:
1. It is a form of market intervention by the Government of India to insure agricultural
producers against any sharp fall in farm prices.
2. The minimum guaranteed prices are fixed to set a floor below which market prices cannot
fall.
3. The minimum support prices are announced by the Government of India at the beginning of
the sowing season for certain crops on the basis of the recommendations of the Commission
for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).
4. CACP takes into account a variety of factors like cost of production, changes in input prices,
input-output price parity, demand and supply, and other micro-level and macro-level data and
aggregates at the district, state and country levels to determine the MSP for the season.
Benefits:
1. Ensures a stable income for farmers
2. Left with certain amount enough for inputs for next season
3. Protects them from the need to go to money lenders.
4. Ensures adequate supply of stock for PDS in Fair price shops which make available food
grains at a lower price for poor households.
5. Acts as an insurance against the vagaries of price volatility.

6. Allows farmers to know in advance the minimum prices guaranteed so that they can make
informed sowing choices.
7. Stability of prices ensures stability of supply for the next seasons as well. Otherwise, if
depressed prices hurt a crop without MSP, then many farmers may try to avoid that crop for
next season resulting in lower supply, and higher prices and inflation causing distress to the
consumer.
8. Allows farmers to be able to use the higher returns to invest in mechanization.
Issues:
1. Skews production based on previous season’s MSPs
2. Leads to overproduction -
3. Lack of procurement facilities - These state and central agencies are procuring more than
what is required. And more than what they can procure and store
4. MSP distorts the market because the government procurement agencies buy 70-80 percent of
wheat and rice by forcing out private players.
5. Exploitation by commission agents and middlemen in the process defeats the purpose of
MSPs
6. Only six per cent of the country's farmers will get the benefits
7. Calculation issues: A2+FL where as Swaminathan Committee had recommended C2.
Way Forward:
1. There is a need to adopt a more scientific approach to agriculture and allocate higher budget
in research to boost productivity per hectare.
2. The NITI Aayog has advocated for timely dissemination of information via the Krishi Vigyan
Kendras (KVK s) and also to announce MSP s well ahead of the sowing season.
3. The criteria for fixing prices for MSP must be current costs rather than a historical basis.
4. There needs to be a complete overhaul of procurement procedures and more focus must be
on local procurement especially at the panchayat level.
5. Use of modern warehousing infrastructure is needed like modern storage facilities, weighing
bridges etc. to extend shelf life and prevent rotting of grains.
6. The Shanta Kumar committee recommendations for the overhaul of FCI must be implemented
in Toto and also the suggestion of the National Commission of farmers (Dr.MS Swaminathan
committee, 2007) to fix the MSP at cost of production + 50% so as to have a definitive roadmap
for fiscal expenditure and better remunerative output for farmers rather than ad hoc methods.
7. Farmers must be made to understand the benefits of crop diversification so as to produce
more pulses to ensure nutritional security and prevent supply-side shocks.
Initiatives:
1) Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan’ (PM-AASHA)
Aim:
The Scheme is aimed at ensuring remunerative prices to the farmers for their produce as
announced in the Union Budget for 2018.

Need for the Scheme:

● PM-AASHA has been introduced by the Centre to plug the holes in the procurement system
and address the gaps in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) scheme.
● Given the tiny percentage of farmers benefiting from MSP, it is expected to revolutionize the
procurement system.
The AASHA scheme has three components, and these will complement the existing schemes of
the Department of Food and Public Distribution for procurement of paddy, wheat and other cereals
and coarse grains where procurement is at MSP now.
1. Price Support Scheme (PSS):
(a) Here, physical procurement of pulses, oilseeds and copra will be done by Central Nodal
Agencies. Besides NAFED, Food Cooperation of India will also take up procurement of
crops under PSS.
(b) The expenditure and losses due to procurement will be borne by the Centre.
2. Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS):

(a) Under this, the Centre proposes to cover all oilseeds and pay the farmer directly into his
bank account the difference between the MSP and his actual selling/modal price.
(b) Farmers who sell their crops in recognized mandis within the notified period can benefit
from it.
3. Pilot of Private Procurement & Stockist Scheme (PPSS).

(a) In the case of oilseeds, States will have the option to roll out PPSSs in select districts
where a private player can procure crops at MSP when market prices drop below MSP.

(b) The private player will then be compensated through a service charge that will be up to a
maximum of 15 per cent of the MSP of the crop.
Key Issues:
1. IT Infrastructure: States haven’t been able to put it in place the requisite IT infrastructure
needed to implement the cash payment scheme.
2. Market Distortions: While such artificial price controls may help pull the price up in different
areas, they still have the major pitfall of creating demand-supply mismatches and distort the
market.
3. Procurement Issues: While FCI and NAFED aim to procure large volumes of oilseeds and
pulses, however, their capacity to procure on this large a scale is limited.
4. Winding up of BBY scheme: The BBY scheme, i.e. the Price Deficiency Payment Scheme was
launched by MP govt. in 2017 due to rising farmers protest demanding remunerative prices
and loan waivers. A lot of critics however felt that it supported traders more than farmers.
Arguing that the scheme wasn’t of much help to the farmers, MP wound up the program.
5. Capacity development for Private Stockist Scheme: It will take at least 6 months to 1 year for
private players to comprehend and participate in the program.
Way Forward:
● The use of technology in agriculture mandis, whether it is for price discovery or assaying, will
go a long way in bringing about much needed transparency.
● Crop diversification: Such schemes should ensure there is sufficient diversity and does not
artificially skew the crop choices of farmers.
● The need of the hour is to improve upon the scheme and analyse the various policy
interventions that can address this risk the best.
● MSP is a required market intervention by the government and it goes a long way in improving
the returns of farmers and helping them break out of the low-income trap. In this regard,
recently, the government had announced MSPs at one-and-a-half times of their costs (A2+FL)
costs. These government measures have been encouraging.
● Public Distribution System objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer
stocks and food security.
03. Public Distribution System
Objective:
• To provide essential consumer goods at cheap and subsidized prices to the consumers.
• To protect the low income groups by guaranteeing the supply of certain minimum quantities
of food grains at affordable price.
• Ensuring equitable distribution.

• To maintain the minimum nutritional status of our population.

• Controlling the price rise of Essential Commodities in the open market.
In June, 1997, the Government of India launched the Targeted Public Distribution System
(TPDS) with a focus on the poor. Under TPDS, beneficiaries were divided into two categories:
Households below the poverty line or BPL; and Households above the poverty line or APL.
Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY): AAY was a step in the direction of making TPDS aim at reducing
hunger among the poorest segments of the BPL population.
In September 2013, Parliament enacted the National Food Security Act, 2013. The Act relies
largely on the existing TPDS to deliver food grains as legal entitlements to poor households. This
marks a shift by making the right to food a justiciable right.
Table-1: Entitlements under the National Food Security Bill, 2011
Group Entitlement
7 kg foodgrains per person per month at rs.3 kg for wheat, Rs.2 kg
Priority
for rice, Rs.1 kg for coarse grans.
At least 3 kg food grains per person per month at 50% of minimum
General
support price (MSP).
Pregnant women and lactating Free meal during pregnancy and 6 months thereafter, and Rs.1000
mothers per month for 6 months.
Children, 6 months to 14 Free meal at local anganwadi (6 months to 6 years); Mid-day meal
years at school (6 to 14 years).
Malnourished children Free meals
Destitute persons One free meal per day
Homless persons Affordable meals at community kitchens
Starving persons Two free meals per day for 6 months
Emergency and disaster
Two free meals per day for 3 months.
affected persons
Functioning:
● The existing TPDS operates through a multi-level process in which the Centre and states
share responsibilities.
● The Centre is responsible for procuring or buying food grains, such as wheat and rice from
farmers at a minimum support price.
● It also allocates the grains to each state on the basis of a formula.
● Within the total number of poor in each state, state governments are responsible for
identifying eligible households.

● The Centre transports the grains to the central depots in each state.
● After that, each state government is responsible for delivering the allocated food grains
from these depots to each ration shop.
● The ration shop is the end point at which beneficiaries buy their food grains entitlement.
Limitations:
● Leakages in PDS: The erstwhile Planning Commission found 36% leakage of PDS rice and
wheat at the all-India level.
● Storage Issues: a performance audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General has revealed a
serious shortfall in the government’s storage capacity. Given the increasing procurement and
incidents of rotting food grains, the lack of adequate covered storage is bound to be a cause for
concern.
● Quality of food grains: A survey conducted in 2011 had noted that people complained about
receiving poor quality food grain (containing alien substances such as pebbles) impacting their
health.
● Identification Issues: Expert Studies have shown that PDS suffers from nearly 61% error of
exclusion and 25% inclusion of beneficiaries, i.e. the misclassification of the poor as non-poor
and vice versa.
● Procurement Issues: Ability of FCI to procure large volumes of food grains is limited.
● Financial Impact: The Centre bears a large financial burden, the food subsidy, because the
cost of procuring and delivering food grains is about six times its sale price.
● Limited procurement of agricultural commodities is the reason for cereal centricity of farming
in India.
● Procurement largely confined to North western and Southern states,
Revamping:
• Use of Aadhar has brought the following benefits:
• Better targeting of beneficiaries
• Removal of duplicate and ghost beneficiaries
• Several states have implemented reforms to address gaps in implementation. It is important
to note that while the Centre plays a big role in implementing TPDS, states have flexibility to
tailor TPDS according to their own priorities. This is demonstrated in states in different ways.
• Tamil Nadu implements a universal PDS, such that every household is entitled to subsidized
food grains.

• States such as Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have implemented IT measures to

streamline TPDS, through the digitization of ration cards, the use of GPS tracking of delivery,
and the use of SMS based monitoring by citizens.
Way Forward:
● Direct Benefit Transfer as recommended by Shanta Kumar Committee.
● Local procurement: This could reduce large scale movement of food grains thereby reducing
transportation costs and leakages.
● Aadhar related issues need to be addressed: Authentication failure, lack of connectivity,
biometric issues shouldn’t lead to exclusion.
● Grievance Redressal and Social Audit of PDS.
● To enhance the nutritional level of masses, bio-fortified foods need to be distributed through
the PDS.
● Options like Food Coupons could be used for reducing corruption and bring portability.
● Participation of SHGs, cooperatives and NGOs to ensure the transparency of PDS system at
ground level.
Buffer Stocks:
• Buffer stock refers to a reserve of a commodity that is used to offset price fluctuations and
unforeseen emergencies. Buffer stock is generally maintained for essential commodities and
necessities like food grains, pulses etc.
• Recently the government decided to increase the buffer stock of sugar from 3MMT to 4MMT
and had increased the pulses buffer last year.
Objectives:
• Meeting the prescribed minimum buffer stock norms for food security,
• Monthly release of food grains for supply through Targeted Public Distribution System
(TPDS) and Other Welfare Schemes (OWS),
• Meeting emergency situations arising out of unexpected crop failure, natural disasters, etc.,
and
• Price stabilization or market intervention to augment supply so as to help moderate the open
market prices.
Issues:
• From 2010’s the amount of buffer stocks were twice the minimum prescribed amount
leading to inflation.
• Rather than maintaining buffer stock to achieve food security, excess stock was generally due
to export bans and open ended procurements.
• The liquidation of excess stocks in open markets or in export markets were extremely slow and
ad-hoc causing market distortion.
• Even after maintaining enough reserves of pulses the price rice couldn't be addressed
completely which was seen earlier this year as pulses prices shot up.

Way Forward:
To address price fluctuation the root causes of diversification has to be addressed to meet local
demands. And timely liquidation that can help in reduced post-harvest losses which is around 20 %
of the food grains. Storage, transport and liquefaction guidelines can be followed as per the Shanta
Kumar committee guidelines.
04. Food Corporation of India
About FCI:
• Food Corporation of India (FCI) is a Public Sector Undertaking, under the Department of
Food & Public Distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
• FCI is a statutory body set up in 1965 under the Food Corporations Act 1964.
• It has primary duty to undertake purchase, store, move/transport, distribute and sell food
grains and other foodstuffs.
Objectives of FCI:
• To provide remunerative prices to farmers.
• To help in transforming the crisis management oriented food security into a stable security
system to ensure availability, accessibility and affordability of food grains to all people at all
times so that no one, nowhere and at no time should go hungry.
• Ensuring food security of the nation by maintaining satisfactory level of operational buffer
stocks of food grains.
• Distribution of food grains throughout the country for Public Distribution System.
• Effective Price Support Operations for safeguarding the interest of farmers.
Major Activities Undertaken by FCI:

Procurement:
• The Central Government extends price support for procurement of wheat, paddy and coarse
grains through the FCI and State Agencies.
• All the food grains conforming to the prescribed specifications are procured by the public
procurement agencies at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) plus incentive bonus announced,
if any.
• Quality Control Division of FCI ensures procurement of food grains from procurement centres
strictly in accordance with Govt. of India's uniform quality specifications.
• FCI has also been nominated as an additional nodal Agency for procurement of Pulses and
Oilseeds.

Distribution:
• FCI meets the requirements of TPDS through grains procured which are issued at Central
Issue Price fixed by Government to fulfill the objective of helping the economically vulnerable
sections of society.
• FCI delivers food grains to State Govt./ State Agencies from its base depots for distribution by
the latter through Fair Price Shops.
• The role of FCI becomes even more important in the backdrop of National Food Security Act,
2013, that commits to distribute grains through TPDS and other welfare schemes, at highly
subsidized prices.
Restructuring of FCI:
The shortfalls of FCI in its major objectives of procurement, storage and distribution, lead to the
formation of the High Level Committee (HLC) under the chairmanship Shanta Kumar for the
restructuring for FCI.
Some of the Recommendations Include:
On procurement related issues:

• FCI should hand over all procurement operations to states that have gained sufficient
experience.
• FCI will accept only the from these state governments to be moved to deficit states.
Negotiable Warehouse Receipt System:

• It should be taken up on priority and scaled up quickly. Under this system, farmers can
deposit their produce to the registered warehouses, and get say 80 percent advance from
banks against their produce valued at MSP.
Revisit the MSP Policy:

• HLC recommends that pulses and oilseeds deserve priority and Government must provide
better price support operations for them
On stocking and movement related issues:

• It should be done on competitive bidding basis, inviting various stakeholders and creating
competition to bring down costs of storage.
• Covered and plinth (CAP) storage should be gradually phased out with no grain stocks
remaining in CAP for more than 3 months. Silo bag technology and conventional storages
wherever possible should replace CAP.
• Movement of grains needs to be gradually containerized which will help reduce transit losses,
and have a faster turn-around-time

Buffer Stocking Operations and Liquidation Policy:

• Greater flexibility to FCI with business orientation to operate in OMSS and export markets is
needed.
• HLC had recommended that the government should relook at the coverage (67% of the
population) under the NFSA as it’s on the ‘higher’ side’.
On end to end computerization:
• HLC recommends total end to end computerization of the entire food management system,
starting from procurement from farmers, to stocking, movement and finally distribution
through TPDS.
Issues Pertaining to FCI:

• FCI conducts “Open-ended procurement” which means the Government will buy (at Minimum
Support Price-MSP) any quantity of wheat and rice from any farmer who comes forward to sell-
--Due to this, FCI has huge grain stocks which far exceed buffer-stock norms. Also, some of
the reasons for these excess stocks are export bans. Due to this, FCI’s mounting debts have
increased to an estimated Rs. 2.55 lakh crore by March 2020.
• Storage Crisis: FCI lacks necessary warehousing infrastructure and robust procurement
mechanisms. Due to lack of adequate storage facilities, huge quantities of food grains get
wasted.
• Lack of Proactive Liquidation Policy: The current system of liquidation of excess stocks
through the Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic) or through export markets is extremely ad-
hoc and slow.
• FCI doesn’t get a good price most of the time, as predetermined price (reserve price) is often
less than the acquisition cost/economic cost of grains for FCI and it ends up making a loss in
the sale.
One Nation One Ration Card:

About:
• One Nation One Ration Card Scheme which will allow portability of food security benefits will
be available across the country from 1st July, 2020.
• The scheme is all about inter-state portability of ration cards.
• It enables the beneficiaries who are taking food grains under the Public Distribution System
(PDS) to access the same benefits if they happen to migrate from one part of the country to the
other, in a seamless manner.
Benefits of the Scheme:

• Historically, India has had food security benefit schemes which have domicile based access.
• 45.36 crore people or 37% of the population is that of migrant labourers. The scheme is
therefore important for anyone who is going to move from one place to the other.

• In One Nation One Ration Card Scheme, the fundamental prerequisite is de duplication so
that it is ensured that the same person does not figure as a beneficiary in two different
locations of the country.
• It will ensure that no genuine beneficiary is not denied ration for the lack of documents.
• The scheme will add to the integration of the country as wherever a person goes, he will be
able to get food grains at that place.
Challenges:
• Since the scheme is based on technology, the government may face some technical
challenges during the implementation of the scheme.
• There are apprehensions on bearing the cost of additional ration cards. This is a matter
which is to be settled between the states and the Government of India.
• One of the apprehensions mentioned by few states is the cost of additional food grain to be
supplied to the migrant workers.
• Different states have different criteria of identifying beneficiaries e.g: Tamil Nadu has very
high proportion of PDS beneficiaries. It will be challenging to provide similar benefit in other
states.
Note:
• It was initially proposed to nationally rollout the ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ scheme by June
1, 2020.
• So far, 17 states and UTs — Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala,
Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu — have come on
board to roll out the inter-state portability of ration cards under the NFSA.
10. Important Agricultural Missions
Technological missions include development and implementation of science and technology to

improve the efficiency of agricultural processes and increase production.
Initiatives by Government:
1. National mission on sustainable agriculture:
(a) Need of the mission:

• National mission on sustainable agriculture is a sub mission of NAPCC.
• With increasing uncertainties like extreme and unpredictable weather conditions, depletion
of natural resources and other environmental challenges, it has become important to adopt a
mission to focus on sustainable agriculture.
• Growing international focus on sustainable agriculture
• Has been made Operational from the year 2014-15

(b) Goals and objectives:

• Aims at making agriculture more productive, sustainable, remunerative, and climate
resilient.
• To develop the capacity of farmers & stakeholders, in conjunction with other on-going
Missions e.g. National Mission on Agriculture Extension & Technology, National Food
Security Mission, National Initiative for Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) etc. in the
domain of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures.
• To pilot models in select blocks for improving productivity of rainfed farming by
mainstreaming rainfed technologies.
• To adopt comprehensive soil health management practices based on soil fertility maps, soil
test based application of macro & micro nutrients, judicious use of fertilizers etc.
• To optimize utilization of water resources through efficient water management to expand
coverage for achieving ‘more crop per drop’.
• To establish an effective inter and intra Departmental/Ministerial coordination.
(c) Mission Approach:
• Rainfed Agriculture:
o Focus on awareness generation like stakeholder consultations, workshops, demonstration

exercises, sharing information on methods on optimal use of soil and water.
o Developing pest resistant and climate resilient crop varieties
o Financial support to adopt relevant technologies to overcome climate related stresses.
• Risk Management:
o Developing region specific contingency plans based on vulnerability and risk scenario.
o Validating and Developing weather derivative models by insurance providers.
o Developing GIS and remote sensing technologies for soil resource planning and land use
planning.
• Access to Information:
o Providing information on different seasonal and off season crops, agro-forestry, livestock,
agro processing etc.
o Developing regional database of land-use patterns, water resources, soil and weather
conditions.
• Use of Biotechnology:
o Developing climate friendly carbon responsive crops through genetic engineering.
o Developing strategies to manage thermal stresses in plants and dairy animals.
o Developing disease resistant, salt tolerant freshwater fish and prawn.
o Developing strategies for low input sustainable agriculture with increases water and
nitrogen use efficiency.

2. Jute Technology Mission:

Jute has huge potential markets in India and also abroad. Hence, the mission has been
launched in 2006 jointly by Ministry of Textiles and Ministry of Agriculture.
Objectives:
• Develop high yield varieties of Jute thereby increasing productivity and marketability.
• Develop and help farmers adopt cost effective technologies.
• Increase the scope of marketing of jute products at domestic and international level.
3. Technology mission on Oilseeds, Pulses and Maize (TMOPM):

It is an old scheme launched in 1986 to achieve self-sufficiency in edible oils by increasing the
edible oil production domestically.
Integrated Scheme of Oilseeds, Pulses, oil Palm and Maize is one of the schemes implemented
as part of this mission.
4. Technological Mission on Cotton:

It was launched in 2000.
Objectives:
• To improve yield and quality of cotton by developing better cotton varieties through improved
seeds, integrated water and pest management technologies.
• To increase income of cotton growers through increasing yield, reducing cultivation costs and
transfer of technology to cotton growers.
Four mini missions established under Technological mission on cotton are:

• Cotton Research and technological generation under ICAR
• Transfer of technology and development under the Ministry of Agriculture
• Improvement of Marketing Infrastructure under Ministry of Textiles
• Modernization of G and P Factories under Ministry of Textiles.
5. National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology:

Aim: to deliver appropriate technology and improved agronomic practices to farmers to
increase productivity.
Agricultural extension refers to application of scientific research and new knowledge to
agricultural practices through farmer education. This includes educating the farmers towards
cost effective and remunerative mechanized farming for improved productivity and sustainable
farm growth.

Method:
1. Increasing the outreach programs for information dissemination
2. Use Of information and communication technologies.
3. Encouraging farmers to form interest groups like Farmer producer Organisations. four
components:
• Sub Mission on Agriculture Extension, (SMAE)
• Sub Mission on Seed and Planting Material (SMSP),
• Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) and
• Sub Mission on Plant Protection and Plant Quarantine (SMPP).
6. National Mission on Food Processing:
Objective: is to decentralize the job of implementation of schemes of the central Food
processing Ministry. This will lead to better participation of State governments.
The mission aims to

1. To help upscale the operations of food processing industries by capital infusion, technology
transfer and skill upgradation.
2. To support established Self-help groups in food processing sector.
3. Skill upgradation and capacity building through institutional training to bridge the gap in
requirement and availability of skilled manpower in the food processing industry.
4. To increase standards of food safety and hygiene to meet norms set up by FSSAI.
5. TO facilitate Food processing industries to adopt ISO and HACCP certification norms.
6. To augment supply chain logistics, storage and processing capacity.
7. Overall, it aims to provide better support system to organized processing sector.
7. National Bamboo Mission:

The restructured National Bamboo mission removes Bamboo grown outside forest from the
definition of trees. This will remove the restrictions placed on farmers for the cultivation of
Bamboo and make use of it to generate income.
o Sub-scheme of National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) under the umbrella
scheme Krishonnati Yojana.
Funding Pattern:
• 60:40 between Centre and State Govt. for all States (excepting NE & Hilly states),
• 90:10 for the NE & Hilly States, and
• 100% for Union Territories/R&D Institutes/Bamboo Technology Support Groups (BTSGs) and
National Level Agencies.

Objectives:
• To increase the area under bamboo plantation in non-forest Government and private lands to
supplement farm income and contribute towards resilience to climate change as well as the
availability of quality raw material requirement of industries.
• To improve post-harvest management through establishment of innovative primary processing
units near the source of production, primary treatment and seasoning plants, preservation
technologies and market infrastructure.
• To promote product development keeping in view market demand, by assisting R&D,
entrepreneurship & business models at micro small and medium levels and feed bigger
industry.
• To rejuvenate the underdeveloped bamboo industry in India.
• To promote skill development capacity building, awareness generation for development of
bamboo sector from production to market demand.
• To re-align efforts so as to reduce dependency on import of bamboo and bamboo products by
way of improved productivity and suitability of domestic raw material for industry, so as to
enhance income of the primary producers.
8. National Biofuel Policy:
Current Scenario:
● By 2040, India is expected to consume 15% of world’s oil consumption
● Indian government is thinking of long term expansion of bio fuel production
Salient Features:
● Categorizes biofuels to enable appropriate financial and fiscal incentives
• Basic Biofuels first generation(1G) - bioethanol and biodiesel
• Advanced Biofuels second generation(2G)- ethanol, Municipal Solid Waste to drop in fuels(Drop
in fuels are those renewable fuels which can be blended with petroleum products)
• Third Generation (3G) - biofuels and bio-CNG etc
● Allows raw material like sugarcane juice, sugar containing materials like Sugar Beet,
Sorghum and starch containing materials like corn, cassava, wheat, broken rice not fit for
human consumption
● Farmers not getting appropriate price during surplus production can use it for production of
ethanol with the approval of National Biofuel Coordination Committee
● Thrust on advanced biofuel by extending VGF of 5000 crore for 6 years to setup 2G biofuel
refineries
● Encourages setting up of supply chain mechanisms for biodiesel production from non-edible
oilseeds and used cooking oil

Benefits:
● Reduced import dependency of 4000 crore by generating 150 crore litres of ethanol
● Cleaner environment as 150 crore litres (year supply) will see 30 lakh ton CO2 emission
reduction by reduced crop burning and decreased fossil fuel emission.
● Reusing cooking oil can cause lifestyle diseases like diabetes and hypertension which can
reduced by using used cooking oil to produce bioethanol
● Annually 62 MMT of MSW is generated in India which can be used as a drop in fuel
● 2G biofuel refineries will spur infrastructural investment in rural areas
● Biofuel refineries will generate employment opportunities for the locals
● Adopting 2G will reduce farm waste and increase the income of farmers
Issues:
● By 2030 Indian food need will increase by 4o% and need 500MHa more land under cultivation.
Therefore there is very less land available for cultivation of raw material for 2G biofuel
production.
The government has set targets of 10 per cent bioethanol blending of petrol by 2022 and to raise it
to 20 per cent by 2030 to curb carbon emissions and reduce India’s dependence on imported crude
oil.
Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Program:

• Was launched in January 2003 for the supply of 5% ethanol blended petrol.
• To promote the use of alternative and environment-friendly fuels and to reduce import
dependency for energy requirements.
• OMCs are advised to continue according to the priority of ethanol from 1) sugarcane
juice/sugar/sugar syrup, 2) B-heavy molasses 3) C-heavy molasses and 4) damaged food
grains/other sources.
9. National Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture:

• Centrally Sponsored Scheme
• For holistic development of horticulture in the country during XII Plan.
• Integrates the ongoing schemes of National Horticulture Mission, Horticulture Mission for
North East & Himalayan States, National Bamboo Mission, National Horticulture Board,
Coconut Development Board & Central Institute for Horticulture, Nagaland.


11. Economics of Animal Rearing
Definition and Objective:

Animal husbandry deals with the care and breeding of livestock like buffaloes, cows, pigs, horses,
cattle, sheep, camels, goats, etc., that are useful to humans. Extended, it includes poultry farming
and fisheries.
Animal Husbandry Activities:

● Dairy Farm Management: Dairying is the management of animals for milk and its products
for human consumption.
● Poultry Farm Management: Poultry is the class of domesticated fowl (birds) used for food or
for their eggs. They typically include chicken and ducks, and sometimes turkey and geese.
● Bee-keeping: Bee-keeping or apiculture is the maintenance of hives of honeybees for the
production of honey. It has been an age-old cottage industry. Honey is a food of high
nutritive value and also finds use in the indigenous systems of medicine.
● Fisheries: Fishery is an industry devoted to the catching, processing or selling of fish,
shellfish or other aquatic animals. A large number of our population is dependent on fish,
fish products and other aquatic animals such as prawn, crab, lobster, edible oyster, etc., for
food.
01. Benefits of Animal Husbandry
● Contribution to Indian Economy: Animal husbandry has an important place in Indian

economy. Livestock sector contributes 4.11% GDP and 25.6% of total Agriculture GDP.
● Income security: Additional income from animal husbandry can help augment rural incomes.
● Employment to millions in rural India: For many, it is the only source of their livelihood.
About 20.5 million people depend upon livestock for their livelihood.
● Food Aecurity:
o The livestock provides food items such as Milk, Meat and Eggs for human consumption.
o India is number one milk producer in the world. It is producing about 176.34 million tons
of milk in a year (2017-18).
o Similarly it is producing about 95.22 billion eggs and 8.89 million tons of meat in a year.
● Draft Animals: The farmers especially the marginal and small depend upon bullocks for
ploughing, carting and transport of both inputs and outputs.
● Transport: Pack animals like camels, horses, donkeys, ponies, mules etc are being extensively
used to transport goods in different parts of the country in addition to bullocks.
● Fuel: Dung and other animal wastes serve as very good farm yard manure and the value of it
is worth several crores of rupees. In addition it is also used as fuel (bio gas, dung cakes), and
for construction as poor man’s cement (dung).

● Nutrition: They serve as vital sources of protein that are affordable to them. Eg: Eggs, milk,
chicken, meat etc provide adequate and cheap sources of protein thereby improving human
health and welfare.
● Fibre and Skins: The livestock also contributes to the production of wool, hair, hides, and
pelts. Leather is the most important product which has a very high export potential. India is
producing about 43.5 million Kg of wool per annum.
● Cultural benefits: Livestock offer security to the owners and also add to their self-esteem
especially when they are owning prized animals such as pedigreed bulls, dogs and high
yielding cows/ buffaloes, etc.
● Social security: The animals offer social security to the owners in terms of their status in the
society. The families especially the landless which own animals are better placed than those
who do not. Gifting of animals during marriages is a very common phenomenon in different
parts of the country.
The Government has constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee under the Chairmanship of

Chief Executive Officer, National Rainfed Area Authority, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation
and Farmers Welfare 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.
02. Challenges to Animal Husbandry
• Incapability of central and state governments to deliver the promised and expected results.
• Non-availability of superior quality breeding bulls.
• Poor quality of semen produced by many of the laboratories.
• Inadequate skills of paravets resulting in poor conception and infertility.
• Inadequate support for paravets for supply of liquid nitrogen, frozen semen, health care and
technical guidance
• Shortage of fodder resources.
• Absence of field oriented conservation strategy for indigenous breeds.
• Lack of coordination among various agencies engaged in livestock husbandry.
• Poor extension services to motivate small farmers to adopt dairy husbandry for income
generation.
• Ineffective control of animal diseases.
• Lack of skills and quality services to farmers for improving productivity.
Important Initiatives:
• Rashtriya Gokul Mission

• National Livestock Mission
• National Artificial Insemination Programme
• National Cattle and Buffalo Breeding Project
• Animal Husbandry Startup Grand Challenge

03. White Revolution in India / Operation Flood
About:
● The package programme adopted to increase the production of milk is known as White
Revolution in India.
● Known as the ‘billion liter idea- world's largest agricultural dairy development programme.
● Prof. Verghese Kurian was the father of White Revolution in India.
● The White Revolution in India occurred in 1970, when the National Dairy Development
Board (NDDB) was established to organise the dairy development through the co-operative
societies.
● These co-operatives apart from financial help, also provide consultancy.
● The increase in milk production has also been termed as Operation Flood.
Objectives:
1. The main objectives of the co-operative society is the procurement, transportation, storage
of milk at the chilling plants.
2. To provide cattle feed.
3. The production of wide varieties of milk products and their marketing management.
4. The societies also provide superior breeds of cattle (cows and buffaloes), health service,
veterinary treatment, and artificial insemination facilities.
5. To provide extension service.
Phases of the White Revolution:

The White Revolution may be examined under the following three phases:
Phase-I (1970-81):
• The dairy development programme was set up in ten states to supply milk to four metros.
• The important step in this phase was the setting up of 4 Mother Dairies in Mumbai, Kolkata,
Delhi, and Chennai.
Phase-II (1981-85):
• The dairy development programme was extended in the states of Karnataka, Madhya
Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
• The Research Institute at Hyderabad developed a vaccine called Raksha to control cattle
diseases.
• The programme also involved the improvement in milk marketing in 144 more cities of the
country.

• The Dairy Co-operative societies were set up in 35,000 villages and the membership exceeded
36 lakhs.
Phase-III (1985-2000):
• A number of co-operative societies were set up in most of the major states of the country and
the number of co-operatives went up by 73,000 with a membership of 10 million.
Achievements:
1. The White Revolution made a sound impact on rural masses and encouraged them to take up
dairying as a subsidiary occupation.
2. India has become the leading producer of milk in the world. The milk production that was
about 17 million tonnes in 1950-51 rose to over 176.34 million tons of milk in a year (2017-
18). The production of milk has gone up by more than ten times when compared with that of
the Pre-Independence situation.
3. The per capita availability of milk per day at present is about 200 gm as against 100 grams
before the White Revolution.
4. The import of milk and milk production has been reduced substantially.
5. The small and marginal farmers and the landless labourers have been especially benefitted
from the White Revolution.
6. To improve the quality of livestock extensive cross breeding has been launched.
Challenges of Dairy Sector:

1. Collection of milk from the remote areas is expensive, time consuming, and not viable
economically.
2. In most of the villages the cattle are kept under unhygienic conditions.
3. There are inadequate marketing facilities. The marketing infrastructure needs much
improvement.
4. The breeds of cattle is generally inferior. Productivity of Indian dairy animals is lower
compared to other countries.
5. The extension service programme is not effective.
6. Lack of scientific livestock feeding practice.
7. Inadequacy and unavailability of livestock healthcare.

8. Lack of infrastructure for milk collection, transportation, processing.
9. Milk losses due to lack of cold chain facilities.
04. Suggestions by NITI Aayog’s “Stratergy for New India”
• Breed indigenous cattle with exotic breeds:

o Breeding of indigenous cattle with exotic breeds needs to be encouraged to arrest the issue
of inbreeding.
o This will enable greater gene coverage, reduced diseases and greater resilience to climate
change.
• Promote and develop Bull Mother Farms:

o Employing multiple ovulation and embryo transfer technologies, these farms can
significantly enhance milk productivity through the supply of cattle with enhanced milk
potential to farmers.
• Village Level Procurement Systems:

o Installing of bulk milk chillers and facilities for high value conversion of milk are needed to
promote dairy in states.
o The private sector should be incentivized to create a value chain for HVCs and dairy
products at the village level.
• New in New white Revolution:
o As white revolution mainly focused on production aspect of milk, new white revolution
focuses more on other ways and aspects which could increase farmer’s income as well as
the development of the related sectors.
New white revolution comprises:

1. Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI):
2. AI tagging of animals helps to keep track of health related issues of particular animal.
3. Tagged cows can be used as bank loan liabilities or used for insurance purposes.
4. Generating income through quality cattle manure by changing traditional methods
5. More focus on organic dairy products:
05. Government Initiatives for New White Revolution
• Animal Husbandry infrastructure development fund:

o It will enable the small and poor farmers and entrepreneurs, especially women, self help
groups, weaker sections to avail latest infrastructure facilities and to get better
remuneration for their produce.

• Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan (GOBAR-DHAN):

o t will manage and convert cattle dung and solid waste in farms to compost, bio-gas and
bio-CNG.
• Rashtriya Gokul Mission:
o It aims to conserve and develop indigenous breeds in a scientific manner under National
Programme for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development.
12. Food Processing and Related Industries in India
(FPI is recognised as the ‘Sunrise Industry' in India.)

Definition:
● Food processing is the set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients
into food or food into other forms for consumption by humans or animals either in the home or
by the food processing industry.
Status:
• Contributes 1.6% of India’s GDP.
• 11.95% of formal employment
• India is the world’s second largest producer of fruits and vegetables.
• India has 2nd largest production of marine products, meat and poultry.
• India is the single largest producer of milk and has the largest livestock population.
● The benefits of food processing include the preservation, distribution, and marketing of food,
protection from pathogenic microbes and toxic substances, year-round availability of many
food items, and ease of preparation by the consumer.
● On the other hand, food processing can lower the nutritional value of foods, and processed
foods may include additives (such as colorings, flavorings, and preservatives) that may have
adverse health effects.

Significance of Food Processing:

• Enhance farmer's income by better utilization and value addition of agricultural produce
• Minimize wastage at all stages in the food processing chain by the development of
infrastructure for storage, transportation and processing of agro-food produce;
• Introduction of modern technology into the food processing industries from both domestic
and external sources;
• Encourage R&D in food processing for product and process development and improved
packaging;
• Promote export of processed food products.
• Reduce malnutrition
• Boost trade and earns foreign exchange
• Curbing migration-Food processing being a labour intensive industry provide employment
opportunities
• Curbing food inflation
• Enhance quality and taste of food
• Enhance consumer choices
Key Issues:
● Losses high among perishables such as fruits and vegetables
o Crop losses ranged between 7-16% among fruits and around 5% among cereals in 2015.
● Inadequate food processing infrastructure
o Due to inadequate processing facilities in close proximity, farmers may be unable to hold
their produce for a long time.
o Hence, they may be forced to sell their produce soon after harvest, irrespective of the
prevailing market situations.
● Cold chain infrastructure
o Cold chain infrastructure includes processing units, cold storages, and refrigerated vans.
However, cold storage needs to be coupled with logistical support to facilitate smooth
transfer of harvested value from farms to distant locations.
o While there are sufficient cold storages, there are wide gaps in the availability of other
associated infrastructure.
● Transport Facilities
o Majority of food grains and certain quantities of tea, potatoes, and onions are transported
through railways which is slower and prone for losses.
● Mega Food Parks
o Out of the 42 projects approved, 16 were operational
o Reasons for delay in implementation of projects under the scheme:
o Difficulty in getting loans from banks for the project
o delay in obtaining clearances from the state governments and agencies for roads, power,
and water at the project site
o lack of special incentives for setting up food processing units in Mega Food Parks
o Unwillingness of the co-promoters in contributing their share of equity.

o Scheme requires a minimum area of 50 acres, it does not to promote smaller or individual
food processing and preservation units
Initiatives:
Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADHA Yojana
• Comprehensive package which will result in the creation of modern infrastructure with
efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet.
• It will not only provide a big boost to the growth of food processing sector in the country but
also help in providing better returns to farmers and is a big step towards doubling of
farmers income, creating huge employment opportunities especially in the rural areas,
reducing wastage of agricultural produce, increasing the processing level and enhancing the
export of processed foods.
• Mega Food Parks
• Provides for:
o Creating infrastructure for farm level primary processing centre-cum-cold chain in
identified clusters,
o Processing of intermediate products
o Collection centre-cum-cold chains
o Centralized infrastructure to take care of processing activities
o Basic infrastructure for water supply, power, environmental protection systems,
communication etc.
o The key objectives of the scheme are to reduce wastage of perishables; ensure maximum
value addition, and help raise processing of food items from 6 to 20% and increase India’s
share in food processing industry from 1.5 to 3%.

Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure:

• Provide integrated cold chain and preservation infrastructure facilities, without any break,
from the farm gate to the consumer.
• pre-cooling, weighing, sorting, grading, waxing facilities at farm level, multi product/ multi
temperature cold storage, CA storage, packing facility, IQF, blast freezing in the distribution
hub and reefer vans, mobile cooling units
• set up by Partnership / Proprietorship Firms, Companies, Corporations, Cooperatives, Self
Help Groups (SHGs), Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), NGOs, Central / State PSUs
Creation/ Expansion of Food Processing/ Preservation Capacities (Unit Scheme):

• Increasing the level of processing, value addition leading to reduction of wastage.
• processing activities undertaken by the individual units covers a wide range of post-harvest
processes resulting in value addition and/or enhancing shelf life with specialized facilities
required for preservation of perishables
• Implemented through organizations such as Central & State PSUs/ Joint Ventures/ Farmer
Producers Organization (FPOs)/ NGOs/ Cooperatives/ SHGs/ Pvt. Ltd companies/ individuals
proprietorship firms engaged in establishment/ upgradation/ modernization of food processing
units.
Infrastructure for Agro-processing Clusters:

• to set up food processing units based on cluster approach by linking groups of producers/
farmers to the processors and markets through well-equipped supply chain with modern
infrastructure
• Each agro processing cluster under the scheme have two basic components i.e. Basic Enabling
Infrastructure (roads, water supply, power supply, drainage, ETP etc.), Core Infrastructure/
Common facilities (warehouses, cold storages, IQF, tetra pack, sorting, grading etc)

Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages:

• Provide effective and seamless backward and forward integration for processed food industry
by plugging the gaps in supply chain in terms of availability of raw material and linkages with
the market.
• Financial assistance is provided for setting up of primary processing centers/ collection
centers at farm gate and modern retail outlets at the front end along with connectivity through
insulated/ refrigerated transport.
• applicable to perishable horticulture and non-horticulture produce such as fruits, vegetables,
dairy products, meat
Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure:

• Setting Up/Up-gradation of Quality Control/Food Testing Laboratories
• HACCP/ ISO Standards/Food Safety/Quality Management Systems
Human Resources and Institutions:

• Research and Development: extending financial assistance to undertake demand driven R&D
work for the benefit of food processing industry in terms of product and process development,
efficient technologies, improved packaging, value addition etc. with commercial value.
Skill Development:
• To provide sector specific skilled workforce from floor level workers, operators, packaging and
assembly line workers to quality control supervisor etc in the various segments of food
processing industries.
• To contribute towards achieving the projected skilled human resources requirement as
envisaged by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) in food processing sector i.e 17.8
million persons by the year 2022.
• Strengthening of Institutions: National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and
Management (NIFTEM) and Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology (IIFPT)
Operation Greens:
• Enhancing value realization of TOP (Tomato, Onion, Potato) farmers by targeted
interventions to strengthen TOP production clusters and their FPOs, and linking/connecting
them with the market.
• Price stabilization for producers and consumers by proper production planning in the TOP
clusters and introduction of dual use varieties.
• Reduction in post-harvest losses by creation of farm gate infrastructure, development of
suitable agro-logistics, creation of appropriate storage capacity linking consumption centres.

• Increase in food processing capacities and value addition in TOP value chain with firm
linkages with production clusters.
• Setting up of a market intelligence network to collect and collate real time data on demand
and supply and price of TOP crops.
1) PM Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PM FME):

• The Ministry for Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) has launched -(PM FME) as a part of
“Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan
• Aims to provide financial, technical and business support for upgradation of existing micro
food processing enterprises.
• Centrally sponsored scheme-2020-21 to 2024-25-10000 crore
Features of Scheme:
• Scheme adopts One District One Product (ODODP) approach
• Illustrative list of such products includes mango, potato, litchi, tomato, tapioca, kinnu, bhujia,
petha, papad, pickle, millet-based products, fisheries, poultry, meat as well as animal feed
among others.
• Place focus on waste to wealth products, minor forest products and Aspirational Districts.
Market Intelligence and Early Warning System (MIEWS) Portal:

• Union Food Processing Ministry
• To monitor the prices of TOP crops – Tomato, Onion and Potato.
About Portal:
• First-of-its-kind platform for ‘real-time monitoring’ of prices of tomato, onion and potato.
• Generate alerts for price intervention under the terms of Operation Greens (OG) scheme.
• Help in planning and timely intervention for price stabilization.
Steps to be taken:
• 100% foreign direct investment in food processing units has been allowed.
• Adopt hand-holding approach by establishing risk sharing mechanisms
• The Strategy for New India @ 75 recommends that states take the lead in passing Model
Contract Farming Act, 2018.
• Ensure proper agricultural marketing reforms
Way Forward:
● Infrastructure status for agriculture value chains, government collection centres and
warehousing facilities.
● Wastage can be reduced with adequate food processing facilities.
● Agrilogistics such as cold chain infrastructure and market linkages should be strengthened.

● Country-wide integrated cold chain infrastructure network at block and district levels
should be created.
● Farmers need to be trained in value addition activities such as sorting, grading, and pre-
cooling harvested produce through facilities such as freezers and ripening chambers.
● Railways needs to upgrade its logistics to facilitate the transport of fresh produce directly to
export hubs. This includes creation of adjoining facilities for loading and unloading, and
distribution to road transport.
● Enhancing value addition in vegetable and fruit.
13. Land Reforms in India
Definition:
Land reform is a change in the system of land ownership, especially when it involves giving land to
the people who actually farm it and taking it away from people who own large areas for profit. It
also involves consolidating fragments of land to achieve the best possible outcome from the land.
Need for land Reforms:

1. Restructuring of agrarian relations to achieve an egalitarian structure – abolition of
Zamindari system.
2. Elimination of exploitation in land relations – tenancy reforms.
3. Actualization of the goal of “land to the tiller” – land ceiling.
4. Land consolidation and prevention of fragmentation to ensure economic land holdings.
5. Improvement of socio-economic conditions of the rural poor by widening their land base –
redistribution of excess land like that in
6. Increasing agricultural production and productivity
7. Facilitating land-based development of rural poor
8. Infusion of a great measure of equality in local institutions. – Cooperative farming.
Types of Land Reforms, Objectives and Implementation Failures
Objective Implementation failures

● Rent receivers under absentee landlords under
Abolition of Intermediaries:
Ryotwari was left out
● Clear owner is identified and owner ● Intermediaries got huge compensation for
himself to operate and manage the land abolition
● Land owner used loopholes of the law and
transferred land in the name of relatives and
Land Ceilings: friends
● To reduce land disparities ● Exemptions provided like sugarcane orchards
● Generate agricultural employment ● Large amount of recovered land remains
undistributed and uncultivated
● Litigation slowed down implementation
● Very few states like UP, Haryana and Punjab

made progress
● Farmers emotionally attached to ancestral land
● Farmers with good quality of land feared getting
Consolidation of Land Holdings:
bad quality of land
● Effective management of land without ● Cumbersome process and implementation
spending much on fencing and officials were slow and corrupt
barricading ● Cost of consolidation was realized by the
farmers which had adverse effect on resources
● Small farmers got bad quality of land and
couldn't fight litigation
● Tenancy legislations in India are not uniform
Regulation of Tenancy:
and different across states
● Confirm rights of occupancy tenants ● Many land owners claimed personal cultivation
● Security of tenure and fixing the rent fearing tenants might take away their lands
Co-operative Farming:
● Many landowners formed societies to evade
● Combine landholding to achieve economy tenancy laws
of scale ● Farmers who won land rights recently didn't
● Overcome difficulties of fragmented want to give up their land rights
holdings ● Lack of trust in the co operatives
● Investment and employment opportunities
Successes of Land Reforms in India:

1. Abolished exploitative land tenure systems prevalent in agrarian society
2. Distributed the surplus land among the landless and the weaker sections of the society.
3. Provided security of tenure to the tenants through Land Tenancy laws.
4. In some cases tenants even given ownership rights.
5. Fixed rent in the range of 25-33%
6. The cumulative effect of abolition of Zamindari, tenancy legislation and ceiling legislation
motivated the cultivators to invest and improve agricultural practices.
7. They made a significant positive impact on poverty removal.
8. Lower castes have become more organized and assertive about their rights.
9. Brought fundamental changes in the agrarian economy, rural social structure, and rural
power structure. Moved India society towards the egalitarian society.
10. Increased democratization of Indian polity and reduction in influence of the dominant
sections of the society.

01. Land Development Banks in India
● Quasi commercial bank which accepts deposits, making business loans and offering basic
investment products.
● It provides long term finance to members to meet needs like reclamation of land, buying
equipment like pump sets, tractors, etc.
History of Land Development Bank:

• The first Land Development Bank was started at Jhang in Punjab in 1920.
• Real progress began when the land development bank was established in Chennai in 1929.
02. Structure of Land Development Banks
● Primary Land Development Banks(PLDB):

o Cover few taluks or a developmental block.
o All landowners can become a member and borrow loans by mortgaging land
o Mortgaged land can be lent out for cultivation for a specific period.
● Central Land Development Bank(CPLB):

o They function at state level.
o Members are PLBDs and few promoters
o Raise funds through floating debentures which is guaranteed by state government
o Grants long term loans to agriculturists through PLDBs
The sources of funds of land development banks are:

• Share capital
• Deposits from members or non-members
• Issue of debentures
• Accepting deposits
• Reimbursements of subsidies from the government
Functions:
● Finances Farm mechanization, horticulture and plantation and land development.
● Finance non land based activities like dairy, poultry , fishery and biogas.
● Rural housing by financing farmers under NHB.
● Watershed development financing in rain fed areas.
Issues with Functioning:

● Loans generally to discharge prior debts.
● CLDBs not able to raise enough funds through debentures.

● No coordination between state cooperative bank and Land Development Bank.

● Red-tapism causing more than a year for granting loans.
● Very High Margin- only 50% of the land value as loan.
● Complicated procedures not understood by illiterate farmers.
● Inadequacy of trained professionals.
● Mounting overdues in most Land Development Banks.
Way Forward:
● Public Land Bank at Panchayat Level and take deposits of land from landowners wanting to
lease out their land with option to withdrawn when needed.
● Deposits can be for one season, one year or three years and more and Landowners will receive
additional fee when the land is leased out
● Provide lands to the marginal sections and fixed tenure leads to investment on land
● Government backing to protect the owner post the term
03. Land Records Management
Land records consist of various types of information (property maps, sale deeds) and are
maintained across different departments at the district or village level.
Issues of Land Records:

● Land titles are presumptive
o Land records provides information of who is in possession of the land rather than who
the owner is.
o Any transfer of land is recorded by a sale deed which has to be registered, but this
registers a transaction and not land title.
o Therefore this kind of registration does not guarantee ownership even by the government
as the transfer can be challenged.
● Registration of property is not mandatory for all transactions
o Under Registration Act 1908, acquisition of land by government, court decrees, land
orders, hership partitions, and leased land for less than a year registration is not
mandatory.
o Several property divisions are not recorded and possession of land is unknown causing
litigation.
● Poor maintenance of land records

o Manual registration and documents with revenue department not easily accessible to the
public.
o Therefore difficult to know the land owner during property sale and can lead to litigation.
• Multiple entities deal with land registration and records
o Combination of the 3 types of data records
o Textual (RoR)
o Spatial (maps)
o Transactional details (Sale deeds)
o Multiple agencies are responsible for land records and difficult to ensure the data
matches across all 3 agencies
Advantages of Land Record Modernization:

• Ease of doing business – According to NitiAayog, it takes over 20 years to resolve a land
dispute. Land record modernization helps in reducing litigation.
• Agriculture Credit can be provided to farmers, as a clearly titled land can be used as
collateral.
• Gives fillip to manufacturing as lack of clear land records delay or stall land acquisition.
• Helps housing and urbanization in slum areas.
• Transparent and tamper proof land records help check Benami transactions and associated
parallel economy.
Reforms:
• Administrative changes at state level that streamline the collection and maintenance of land
data
• Ensure data is regularly updated and easily accessible on digital platform like Karnataka’s
BHOOMI Project.
• Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme
o Computerization of existing land records and transfers and registration process
o Digitization of maps and integrating all data types like spatial and textual records
o Survey and resurvey and update settlement records
o Development of core GIS and capacity building
o DLRMP intends to moves towards conclusive and state guaranteed titles from presumptive
titles.
o The National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP)-2008- aimed to modernize
management of land records+ minimize scope of land/property disputes+ enhance
transparency in the land records maintenance system+ and facilitate moving eventually
towards guaranteed conclusive titles to immovable properties in the country.
04. Model Land Leasing Act, 2016
The idea behind the model law is to allow owners to lease out agricultural land to tenant farmers
without any fear of losing it.
Current Issues in Land Leasing:

● Many states have banned tenancy like Kerala, and few with restrictions that only defense
personal and war widows can lease land like Karnataka.

● Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Rajasthan has liberal land leasing norms, but
still doesn’t recognize sharecroppers as tenants.
● Lack of legal documents and informal tenants can’t access institutional credit and
insurance which affect productivity and farmers income.
● Due to legal restrictions, the land owners prefer to keep land fallow rather than lease it due
to fear of losing land.
Salient Features of Model Land Leasing Act 2016 by Niti Aayog:

● Legalize land leasing to promote agriculture efficiency, equity and power reduction. This will
promote productivity improvement and occupational mobility.
● The terms and conditions of lease to be determined with mutual consent for agriculture and
allied activities.
● Lease holder can access institutional loan, insurance and disaster relief and invest in
agriculture.
● Automatic resumption of land after lease period without leaving a minimum area to the
tenant as required by some state laws
● Set up ‘Special Land Tribunal’ in the Civil Court to resolve the dispute+proposes quicker
litigation process in case of disputes
● Incentivize tenants to invest in land improvement and get back unused value of investment
● New law, land can also be leased out for allied activities like livestock or animal husbandry for
a maximum period of five years.
Benefits:
● Win-win situation for both the lessee and lessor
● Promote investment on land improvement, machinery for agriculture
● Accessibility of credit and insurance
● Land liberalization will bring unused land into cultivation
Challenges:
● Landowners might be apprehensive that written contract might lead to litigation
● Fear that populist governments might transfer land to tenants as per the written contracts.
● State governments has shown very little interest in the law.
● Asymmetry - landowner has been given protection in terms of ownership, but not many
responsibilities in terms of land improvement or crop failure.

14. Miscellaneous Topics
01. Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)
Aims:
● Providing financial support to farmers suffering crop loss/damage arising out of unforeseen
events.
● Stabilizing the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming.
● Encouraging farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices.
● Ensuring flow of credit to the agriculture sector which will contribute to food security, crop
diversification and enhancing growth and competitiveness of agriculture sector besides
protecting farmers from production risks.
Highlights of the scheme:
Category Premium (%)
Kharif Crops 2
Rabi Crops 1.5
Annual Commercial and Horticulture 5
● There is no upper limit on Government subsidy. Even if balance premium is 90%, it will be
borne by the Government.
● The use of technology will be encouraged to a great extent. Smart phones will be used to
capture and upload data of crop cutting to reduce the delays in claim payment to farmers.
● Remote sensing will be used to reduce the number of crop cutting experiments.

Key Issues:
● Coverage of landless: While those with land are covered under the scheme, sharecroppers
and tenant farmers in the scheme aren’t covered.
● Payment Issues: Nine months after the (2017-18) kharif season ended, just 5% of the claims
made for crop losses in it have been paid. Insurance companies have cited delays in receiving
subsidies from the government as the major reason for delay in reimbursement claims.
● Drawbacks in Assessment of Crop Damages: While PMFBY does allow for use of technology
like satellite, remote sensing technology, drones etc, to assess the damages, most of the states
haven’t been able to carry out the assessments in a reliable and effective manner.
● High Premium Rates: While the premium is capped for the farmers, the government is still
being charged very high premium rates in some states and regions.
● Cumbersome paperwork: Farmers complain that the process for enrolment as non-loanee
farmers is difficult. They have to obtain sowing certificates, land records from the local revenue
department which is time consuming.
● Limited crop coverage: Only a limited number of crops are eligible for PMFBY, and this can
hurt crop diversity.
● Awareness about PMFBY: In a recent survey done in eight states (Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat,
Odisha, AP, Chhattisgarh, Nagaland, Bihar and Maharashtra) by BASIX, it was found that only
28.7 per cent of the sampled farmers are aware about the PMFBY.
Way Forward:
● Making the scheme voluntary to all farmers including loanee farmers.
● A two-step process of assessing crop yields required for calculating the extent of crop
damage. First is elimination based on weather and other triggers, and the second step is
crop cutting experiments (CCEs) in affected areas.
● A basic product be made available to all farmers with flexibility to states to provide
customized add on products to farmers.
02. Farm Loan Waiver
Positives:
● Instant Relief: Farmers are given short-term relief from the payments due by them reducing
their stress and anxiety levels.
● Farm suicides: A major reason for farm suicides are these loans that have become almost a
must to be able to run farms.
● Disposable income: It will help kickstart the farm economy which are currently struggling
under the burden of repayments on loans rather than buying inputs for the farms.
● Investment: It will promote greater investment in farms, and
● Promote rural consumption

Negatives:
● Structural Issues: These aren’t addressed by the farm loan waivers. Real issues such as low
investment, fragmented land holdings, soil quality, water overuse, poor marketing
infrastructure etc aren’t being addressed.
● Doesn’t cover all farmers: Only those ones who’ve borrowed from institutional sources get
succour. The small and marginal farmers who borrow from money lenders are usually left out.
● Moral Hazard: Even those who would have repaid their loans will not want to pay in the future
expecting a loan waiver. It will spoil the credit culture.
● Increase in fiscal deficit: With the government having to pay the bank for these waived loans,
the fiscal deficit targets may slip.
● Decrease in Capital Investment in Agriculture: The better way to spend on agriculture
would be through higher capital investment such as in irrigation, agri-marketing
infrastructure etc. These loans waivers would take focus and priority from investment
expenditures.
03. PM Kisan
• With a view to provide income support to all land holding eligible farmer families, the
Government has launched PM-KISAN. The scheme aims to supplement the financial needs of
the farmers in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields,
commensurate with the anticipated farm income.
● PM KISAN is a Central Sector scheme with 100% funding from Government of India
● Under the scheme an income support of Rs.6000/- per year in three equal instalments will
be provided to small and marginal farmer families having combined land holding/ownership of
upto 2 hectares
● The fund will be directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
● The States/UTs shall prepare database of eligible beneficiary landholder farmer families in
the villages. The beneficiary lists would be displayed at Panchayats to ensure greater
transparency and information. Further, States/UTs would notify the sanction of benefit to the
beneficiary through system generated SMS.
Benefits/Positives:
● Disposable income: Money will reach the hands of the farmers, and this can help them use it
for buying quality inputs and seeds.
● Reduce role of moneylenders: They currently charge exorbitant amounts. Now the farmers
can use this scheme instead.
● Reduce rural distress: PM KISAN can go a long way in reducing rural distress and farm
suicides.
● Insurance: It acts as an insurance in any unforeseen circumstances.
● Investments: Boost the agricultural investments with well-off farmers.

Issues and Challenges:

● Not all farmers covered: Only the ones owning land can avail of this scheme. This leaves out
many sharecroppers and tenant farmers who too would need these monetary benefits of the
scheme.
● Payout per acre varies: Someone owning 0.1 acre or 5 acres are both entitled to only Rs
6000/-.
● Non-capital expenditure expenses: Money may be used for non-farm purposes like weddings
and other ceremonies which may not help the rural cause.
● Large fiscal impact: Of around 75000 crores per year can impact spending in other areas like
health and education.
● Inflation: Such infusion of cash in rural areas can result in inflation.
● Absence of land records: The success of the scheme depends on reliable digital land records.
But, according to government’s own daa, only 15 states have achieved more than 95% of land
records.
● Doesn’t address structural problems: The distress is due to structural problems such as
poor marketing infrastructure, fragmentation of land holdings, poor irrigation etc, and this
scheme wouldn’t address that fully.
● Encourages fragmentation of land records: Large farming households holding larger land
parcels will try to split holdings in order to try and qualify for the scheme.
State Government Initiatives:

● Telangana: Rythu Bandhu Scheme was rolled out which provides Rs 8,000 per year to its
farmers. The state government had decided to pay Rs 4,000 each for Kharif and Rabi cropping
seasons.
● Odisha: Kalia Scheme was rolled out in which the government provides an income support of
Rs 10,000 per family for both tenant farmers as well as landholders for five cropping seasons
between 2018-19 and 2021-22.
Way Forward:
● Although the amount involved per family is too little, and coming too late, yet direct income
support (DIS) marks the beginning of a new policy direction. It can reach about 86 per cent of
farm families compared to loan waivers that can benefit a maximum of 30 per cent of the
peasantry and higher MSP policy which can benefit a maximum of 10-15 per cent of
peasantry.
● It may be worth pointing out that such a policy of DIS is not a substitute, but a complement,
to agri-marketing reforms on the one hand, and raising investments in agriculture on the
other, to make Indian agriculture more productive, competitive, inclusive, and sustainable.
● In the long run the fertilizer, power and other agricultural subsidies can be phased out and the
income support can be increased to help investment in Land development, Agricultural
machinery, irrigation systems which can enable increase farm productivity inturn increasing
farmers income.

15. Economic Survey 2019-2020
● Largest Proportion of Indian population depends directly or indirectly on agriculture for

employment opportunities as compared to any other sector.
● The share of agriculture and allied sectors in the total Gross Value Added (GVA) of the country
has been continuously declining on account of relatively higher growth performance of non-
agricultural sectors, a natural outcome of development process.
● GVA at Basic Prices for 2019-20 from ‘Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing’ sector is estimated to
grow by 2.8 %.
● Agricultural productivity is also constrained by lower level of mechanization in agriculture
which is about 40 % in India, much lower than China (59.5 %) and Brazil (75 %).
● Skewed pattern of regional distribution of agricultural credit in India: Low credit in Hilly,
Eastern and North Eastern states (less than 1 % of total agricultural credit disbursement).
● Livestock income has become an important secondary source of income for millions of rural
families:
o An important role in achieving the goal of doubling farmers’ income.
o Livestock sector has been growing at a CAGR of 7.9 % during last five years.
● During the last 6 years ending 2017-18, Food Processing Industries sector has been growing:
o Average Annual Growth Rate (AAGR) of around 5.06 %
o Constitutes as much as 8.83 % and 10.66 % of GVA in Manufacturing and Agriculture
sector respectively in 2017-18 at 2011-12 prices.
● While interests of the vulnerable sections of the population need to be safeguarded, Survey
emphasizes on sustainability of food security operations by:
● Addressing the burgeoning food subsidy bill.
● Revisiting the rates and coverage under NFSA.
16. Niti Aayog “Stratergy for New India”
01. Doubling Farmer’s Income
Modernizing Agriculture:
Objectives:
● Modernize agricultural technology, increase productivity, efficiency and crop diversification.
● Generate income and employment through a paradigm shift that ensures food security while
maximizing value addition in agriculture.

Constraints:
● Outdated and inappropriate technology main reason for low productivity of crops and
livestock.
● Technology adoption is a constraint due to small and marginal farmers
● Bottlenecks in adopting on farm technology developed by public sector
● Agricultural research is constrained by resource inadequacy, regulations and intellectual
property rights (IPR)
● Multiple sources of information create confusion to farmers
● Huge gap between demand and supply of skills in agriculture, precision agriculture and on
farm post-harvest value addition.
● India not on par in technology with rest of the world and dominance in inefficient production
practices.
● Production and marketing suffer due capital inadequacy.
● Low scale is a constraint on adoption of improved practices.
Way Forward:
• Productivity and Efficiency
• Increase area under irrigation from 45 to 53 % by 2022-23
• Increased adoption of hybrid and improved seeds
• Dynamic seed development plans
• Increase Seed Replacement Ratio to 33 % self-pollinated and 50% cross pollinated crops in
alternate years
• Increase Variety Replacement Ratio by replacing old variety of seeds by hybrid seeds.
• Strengthen seed testing facilities by upgrading technical expertise.
• Uniform National Procedure for seed licensing to tackle heterogeneity problem in seed licensing
procedures across states
• Efficient fertilizer usage using Soil Health Card and encourage fertigation with micro-irrigation.
• Reorient fertilizer subsidy policy by concentrating even on micronutrients
• Regulate pesticide use by aligning with food safety laws.
• Custom hiring centres for mechanization
• Investment subsidies for micro irrigation rather than power and water subsidies.
• Strengthening extension systems
• Synergy between Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA) and Krishi Vikas
Kendras.
• Public Private Partnerships in KVKs
• Market led extension with priority to crop selection, demand and supply, expected price,
availability of storage, transport etc.,
• District Level Skill Mapping of demand and supply of skills
• Replicate dealer training programme in state agriculture universities
• Sustainable water use in agriculture as it uses nearly 83% of water

• High Value Crops

• Encourage diversification to HVCs by increasing fruits and vegetables by 5%
• Establish regional resource belts for HVCs
• Use hybrid technology in vegetables from current 10% to increase yield by 1.5 to 3 times
• Rootstocks for production of fruits which can double the production.
• Smart Horticulture using high density plantation and organic production.
• Strengthen market for organic products
• Convert agriculture waste by recycling and utilizing agriculture waste
• Livestock and Fisheries
• Breed indigenous cattle with exotic breeds
• Promote and develop bull mother farms employing multiple ovulation and embryo transfer
technologies.
• Village level procurement systems of milk
• Convergence of schemes in fisheries sector like Blue revolution with MGNREGA by creating
ponds
• Capacity building for fish breeders and farmers to disseminate best practices and research.
Policy & Governance:
Objectives:
• Create a policy environment that enables income security for farmers, whilst maintaining
India’s food security.
• Encourage the participation of the private sector in agricultural development to transition from
agriculture to robust agri-business systems.
• Promote through government policies the emergence of ‘agripreneurs’ so that even small and
marginal farmers can capture a higher share of value addition from ‘farmgate to fork’.
Constraints:
• Fragmented land holdings:
o Agriculture is characterised by an extremely fragmented landholding structure with an
average farm size of 1.15 hectares and the predominance of small and marginal farmers,
with those holding less than 2 hectares
o Low price realization
o Prices also tend to fall below the minimum support prices in a good production year,
leading to agrarian distress.
• Non-farm employment:
o Lack of non-farm employment opportunities has resulted in excessive dependence on
agriculture for livelihood among both small and marginal farmers as well as among the
landless.

• Agricultural credit
o Despite an allocation of more than INR 11 lakh crore of commercial credit, access to
institutional credit remains a constraint, especially in the case of tenant farmers.
o Agricultural trade
o Exporters of agro-commodities are not successful in raising their share in global markets
because of uncertainty in the foreign trading regime.
Initiatives:
• The current government has taken several steps to improve private investment in agriculture.
• 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) was allowed in 2016-17.
• Similarly, the SAMPADA scheme targets creation of food processing infrastructure. The budget
allocation to the food processing sector was doubled in the Union Budget 2018-19.
• Introduction of the Model Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing Act (2017), Model
Contract Farming Act,
• New guidelines for agroforestry have been made as well.
Way Forward:
● Marketing reforms
o Many of the constraints in marketing can be addressed by adopting the Model Agricultural
Produce and Livestock Marketing Act (APLM), 2017.
● Amend Essential Commodities Act
o The Essential Commodities Act, which has proven a disincentive to large investment in
agricultural technology and infrastructure, should be replaced with a modern statute that
balances the interests of farmers and consumers.
● Stable export policy
o Should come up with a coherent and stable agricultural export policy, ideally with a five to
ten-year time horizon and a built-in provision for a mid-term review.
● Price realization
o The government should consider replacing the Commission on Agricultural Costs & Prices
(CACP) by an agriculture tribunal in line with the provisions of Article 323 B of the
Constitution. NITI Aayog should set up a group to examine the following - Replacing the
minimum support price (MSP) by a minimum reserve price (MRP), which could be the
starting point for auctions at mandis.
● Agriculture advisory service
o An effective and technology driven Agriculture Advisory Service may be considered on the
lines of those of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the European
Union (EU). The mandate would be to ensure that farmers adopt an optimal cropping
pattern that maximizes their Income.

● Futures trade
o Futures trade should be encouraged. Removal of entry barriers to increase market depth
should be considered.
● Contract farming
o Encourage states to adopt the Model Contract Farming Act, 2018
● Land aggregation
o Encourage states to adopt the Model Agriculture Land Leasing Act, 2016
o Digitize land records
o Promote farmer producer organizations (FPOs)
● Research & development
o Focus on precision agriculture: Support research on energy friendly irrigation pumps,
micro irrigation, climate smart technologies, internet of things (IoT), and use of technology
in animal husbandry
o Raise research spending: Research spending, currently at 0.3 per cent, needs to be
increased to at least 1 per cent of agricultural GDP.
o Create a knowledge hub to disseminate best practices
● Innovation
o Several breakthroughs have the clear potential for quickly doubling farmers’ income.
o One is the recorded success of zero budget natural farming by Subhash Palekar. It is now
being adopted across the country and providing notable increases in farmers’ net income
by sharply reducing costs of production and improving incomes by raising yields and
improving the quality of agricultural produce.
● Non-farm income
o Moving labour out of agriculture into manufacturing will go a long way towards the goal of
doubling farmers’ income.
o According to estimates prepared by Chand, Srivastava & Singh (2017), nearly two thirds of
rural income is generated in nonagricultural activities. In non-agricultural activities in
rural areas, another avenue is shifting farmers to agro-business and farm related skills
which are currently in short supply.
Value Chain & Rural Infrastructure:
Objectives:
● Transform the rural economy through the creation of modern rural infrastructure and an
● Integrated value chain system.
● Leverage the value chain to boost India’s exports of food products.
● Create occupational diversification and quality employment opportunities for doubling farmers’
income by 2022-23.

Constraints:
● Public and private investments in agriculture have remained low since the early 90s.
Bottlenecks in implementation and a high degree of uncertainty have further reduced investor
appetite for agricultural investments.
● Inability to acquire land for setting up of market yards, resulting from the restrictions on land
leasing and land acquisition, is another major constraint.
● Even the existing marketing infrastructure suffers because of a lack of finances, manpower
and proper facilities.
• Sub-market yards largely function as a location for government procurement and do not
provide opportunities for open auction.
• Further, they are irregular in their operations and handle less than five per cent of the volume
handled in principal yards.
● Poor maintenance of rural roads is a major constraint as well. Linkages with local and feeder
roads remain sub-optimal.
● In the electricity sector, separate feeders for supply of power to agriculture and domestic
electrification have not been carried out in many states.
● Lack of agriculture best practices hinders India’s food exports. Interventions at the farm or
producer level are needed to ensure that products meet export standards.
According to the report of the committee on doubling farmers’ income, headed by Ashok Dalwai, the
average monthly income of a farmer family in 2015-16 was Rs 8,059, whereas the mandate is to
increase it to Rs 16,118 by 2022-23. The report observed that agriculture needs to grow at 10.4%
per annum until 2022-23 in real terms (after discounting for inflation) to achieve the goal.
Initiatives:
● The present government has taken several steps to modernise the agri value chain.
o The SAMPADA central sector scheme aims to supplement agriculture by modernising
processing activities and decreasing agri-waste.
o Similarly, in the 2018- 19 budget, ‘Operation Green’ on the lines of ‘Operation Flood’ was
announced. This scheme aims to promote farmer producer organisations, agri-logistics,
processing facilities and professional management of such operations.
o Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Soil health card, and Prampragat Krishi Vikas
Yojana- Aiming to raise output and reduce cost.
o Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana- To provide insurance against crop and income loss
and to encourage investment in farming.
o Interlinking of rivers - To raise output and farm incomes.
o ‘Operation Greens’ to address price volatility of perishable commodities like Tomato, Onion
and Potato (TOP).
Way Forward:
• Markets and Value Chain
• Infrastructure status for agriculture value chains
• Village level procurement centres

• Link production to processing

• Food processing for enhancing value addition in vegetable and fruit crops.
• Rural markets: Develop private market yards.
• Upgrade wholesale markets
• Warehouse upgradation
• Convergence in government initiatives: Coordination is needed between the initiatives of the
Ministry of Agriculture, Food Processing, and Commerce to develop effective procurement
linkages, processing facilities, retail chains and export activity
• Strengthen railway freight operations through temperature-controlled containers and loading
and unloading facilities to reduce post-harvest losses and connect land-locked states to export
markets.
• Rural roads, electricity and mechanization
• Maintenance of rural roads through women SHGs
• Revisit criteria for identification of rural habitats for road connectivity
• Incentivize feeder separation
• Incentivize private investment in farm implements
• Export enablers
• Develop export oriented clusters
• Increase the number of testing laboratories
• Augment cargo handling facilities at airports
• Green channel clearance for perishable produce at identified airports handling cargo.
• Regulatory frameworks to combat rejections in export markets
• Ensure traceability mechanism: Promotion of farmer producer organizations (FPOs), export-
based clusters and contract farming will go a long way towards ensuring traceability of farm
produce, a key export requirement.
17. Committees Related to Agriculture
01. Swaminathan Committee

National Commission on Farmers:
The National Commission on Farmers (NCF) was constituted on November 18, 2004 under the
chairmanship of Professor M.S. Swaminathan.
The reports contain suggestions to achieve the goal of "faster and more inclusive growth" as
envisaged in the Approach to 11th Five Year Plan.
Sl.
Topic Committee Recommendations
No.
● "Agriculture" be inserted in the Concurrent List of the
1 Legislation Power
Constitution.
● Prevent diversion of prime agricultural land and forest to corporate
sector for non-agricultural purposes.
2 Land Reforms ● Establish a National Land Use Advisory Service, which would have
the capacity to link land use decisions with ecological
meteorological and marketing factors on a location and season
specific basis.
● Increase water supply through rainwater harvesting and recharge
of the aquifer should become mandatory. "Million Wells Recharge"
programme, specifically targeted at private wells should be
launched.
3 Irrigation
● A water literacy movement should be launched
● A Pani Panchayat in every village can help in getting the available
water distributed on an equitable basis.
● In drought-prone areas, a Drought Code may be introduced
● Substantial increase in public investment in agriculture related
infrastructure particularly in irrigation, drainage, land
Productivity of development, water conservation, research development and road
4
Agriculture connectivity etc.
● A national network of advanced soil testing laboratories with
facilities for detection of micronutrient deficiencies.
● Expand the outreach of the formal credit system to reach the
really poor and needy.
5
Credit and ● Establish an Agriculture Risk Fund to provide relief to farmers in
Insurance the aftermath of successive natural calamities.
● Issue Kisan Credit Cards to women farmers, with joint pattasas
collateral.
● Implement a universal public distribution system. The NCF
pointed out that the total subsidy required for this would be one
per cent of the Gross Domestic Product.
6 Food Security
● Promote the establishment of Community Food and Water Banks
operated by Women Self-help Groups (SHG), based on the
principle ‘Store Grain and Water everywhere'.
● The National Rural Health Mission should be extended to suicide
hotspot locations on priority basis.
● Set up State level Farmers' Commission with representation of
Prevention of
7 farmers for ensuring dynamic government response to farmers'
Farmers' Suicides
problems.
● Livestock Feed and Fodder Corporations at the State Level for
ensuring availability of quality fodder and feed.
● MSP should be at least 50% more than the weighted average cost
Competitiveness of of production.
8
Farmers ● Availability of data about spot and future prices of commodities
through the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCD)
● Encourage non-farm employment opportunities by developing
particular sectors and sub-sectors where demand for the product
9 Employment or services is growing
● The "net take home income" of farmers should be comparable to
those of civil servants.
● Preserving traditional rights of access to biodiversity, which
include access to non-timber forest products including medicinal
10 Bioresources plants, gums and resins, oil yielding plants and beneficial micro-
organisms
● Genome Clubs can be organized in rural schools and colleges

02. Ashok Dalwai Committee on Doubling Farmers Income
The Centre had constituted the Dalwai committee in April 2016 to recommend measures required to
fulfil the target after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced to double farmers’ income in six
years.
Sl.
Topic Committee Recommendations
No.
● Agricultural Marketing to be placed in Concurrent List
Agriculture ● It will enable one nation one market
1
Marketing ● Greater private sector participation in agri-marketing and
logistics.
● Adoption of NITI Aayog's model Land leasing Act
● Formation FPO/VPO to ensure optimum utilisation of land
2 Land ● Pursue states to adopt model contract farming and services
● It also called for amending the Companies Act to facilitate private
sector shareholding in FPOs up to 26 per cent.
● Transit from status of cultivators to farm managers by
outsourcing possible farm operations
● This will achieve resource use efficiency and effective outcome and
reduces cost
3 Agriprenuers ● Activities like Pest Management, Irrigation management and
harvest management can be outsourced
● It suggested upgrading the existing rural periodical markets as
Primary Rural Agricultural Markets for meeting the rural retail
markets demand.
● Mandate of agriculture must look beyond food and nutrition
Scope of security
4
Agriculture ● Agriculture should also generate resources to support industry
enterprises like construction, energy and medicine
● Intercrop diversification from food grains to pulses and water
intensive to drought resistant and suitable crops for the agro
5 Diversification climatic conditions
● Food grains to horticulture
● Agriculture to allied activities like poultry, dairy, fisheries
● Water is the ‘determining factor’ of production. Creating additional
6 Irrigation sources of water under PMKSY and rational use of water and
nutrients.
● Bridging the gaps in techno-economic potential of different crops
● Ensure good quality of SEEDs by recommended SRR
7 Productivity
● Rational use of fertilisers using soil health cards and best suited
cropping patterns
● Must adopt ‘Fork to Farm’ approach than ‘Farm to Fork’ approach
8 Growth model ● Monetisation of the produce on the basis for maximising the value
capture for farmers.
● Efficient marketing system to capture optimal value

● Highest attention to warehousing, negotiable warehousing
receipts.
9 Post Production
● Development of cold chain infrastructure
● Suggested offering pledge finance i.e.post-harvest loan against
produce as collateral.
● Meteorological Advisory services across the country
Vulnerability of ● Insurance coverage under PMFBY
10
Agriculture ● Livestock insurance
● Price and demand forecasting
11 Extension Services ● Use farmers, ICTs, NGOs, government and private agencies
Based on the report, to improve the economic condition of the farmers, Prime Minister Shri
Narendra Modi has set a target. The goal is to double the income of farmers by 2022. For the first
time, a Prime Minister has put such a target in front of the nation for the welfare of farmers. Under
the leadership of the Prime Minister, the Agriculture Ministry is working to achieve the target by
2022. The Ministry is working sincerely and honestly to fulfill our Prime Minister’s dream.
Issue Government Initiatives
Productivity & Irrigation Issues: ● Government has increased the

irrigation budget. ‘Per Drop More
India has 142 million hectares agriculture land, out of
Crop’ is our motto. Pradhan Mantri
which only 48% land is under institutional irrigation.
Krishi Sinchai Yojana has been
launched to mitigate the drought
Much of agriculture in India is still rainfed. effect and to ensure ‘water to every
farm’.
Recommendation: ● Hence, pending medium and large
projects have also been expedited.
Increase in production:
Watershed development and water
It is important to improve irrigation efficiency to increase harvesting & management projects
production. have been put on the fast track.
● The govt. has introduced Soil
Health Card Scheme to inform
farmers about nutrients status of
Declining fertility of the soil:
the soils.
Farmers are facing major soil problems due to excessive ● This is reducing the cultivation cost
use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. as farmers are following the
recommendations and going for
balanced use of fertilisers.
Recommendation: ● In addition, the Government has
● Effective use of inputs: curbed illegal use of urea and
● Provision of quality seeds and nutrients based on soil ensured adequate supply through
Neem Coated Urea scheme. The
health of each field.
government is also encouraging
organic farming.

One of the biggest problems of the farmers is storage after

harvesting as a result they are forced to sell their products
at a lower cost. ● Loans against negotiable warehouse
receipts are being provided with
interest subvention benefits.
Recommendation: ● To protect farmers from losses, the
● Reduction of post-harvest losses: government is focusing on storage
● Large investments in Warehousing and Cold Chains facilities and integrated cold chains
to prevent post-harvest crop losses. in rural areas.
● These can help avoid distressed sales.
Low levels of value addition in India compared to

benchmark countries like China, Indonesia, Brazil etc.
● Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada
Recommendation: Yojana has been started.
● Value Addition:
● The government is also promoting quality through
food processing.
Agri-Marketing Issues:
● Mandis are governed by APMC acts and APMC having ● e-NAM was launched with three
its own marketing regulations. reforms and so far, 585 mandis
● These hinder the free flow of agricultural commodities have been linked to this platform as
from one market to another. of Jan 2019.
● Multiple layers of mandi charges only end up ● Online trading has begun on
escalating the prices for the consumers without various mandis.
commensurate benefit to the farmer either. ● In addition, the government has
● Leads to inefficiencies in price discovery. circulated model Agricultural
Produce Market Committee (APMC)
Act, which includes private market
yards and direct marketing.
Recommendation: ● Government is also working on a
● Reforms in Agriculture Marketing: Model Act to promote contract
● The Central Government is emphasizing on the need farming.
of reforms in agriculture marketing.
Due to lack of sufficient insurance penetration in the
agricultural sector, a loss in a season or year puts farmers
immediately in financial distress. ● The Government has initiated
Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
(PMFBY) to reduce the possible
Recommendation:
risks. The scheme creates a
● Risk, Security and Assistance: security shield.
A robust crop insurance scheme to mitigate risks at an
affordable cost
There isn’t sufficient product diversification amongst

Indian agriculturists. Cropping pattern is dependent on
crop prices, and risk is not hedged with another product
they can sell. ● Several schemes and missions have
been introduced Eg: MIDH Mission
Recommendation: for Integrated Development of
Horticulture, Rashtriya Gokul
Allied Activities:
mission for dairy, Integrated
An important activity that needs to be adopted by farmers Development and Management of
to double their incomes is Allied Activities fisheries, Sub-mission of agro-
forestry etc.
They include Horticulture, Integrated Farming, White
Revolution, Blue Revolution, Sub-Mission on Agroforestry,
Beekeeping, Rural Backyard Poultry Development.

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Agriculture Handout

1. Previous Year Questions 1−4

2. Major Crops Cropping Patterns in various Parts of the Country 4−5

3. Major Agricultural Regions or Zones of India 5−8

4. Different types of Irrigation and Irrigation Systems 8−9

01 Issues and Challenges 13 − 14

02 Agricultural Export Policy, 2018 14 – 16

04 Model Agriculture Produce and Livestock Marketing Act, 2017 18 – 19

01 Latest Agriculture Reforms 26 − 27

02 Minimum Support Price 27 − 30

03 Public Distribution System 30 − 34

04 Food Corporation of India 34 − 37

10. Important Agricultural Missions 37 − 42

01 Benefits of Animal Husbandry 44 − 45

02 Challenges to Animal – Husbandry 45 – 45

03 White Revolution in India 46 – 48

04 Suggestions by NITI Aayog’s 48 – 48

05 Government Initiatives for New White Revolution 48 – 49

12. Food Processing and Related Industries in India 49 − 55

13. Land Reforms in India 55 − 60

01 Land Development banks in India 57 − 57

02 Structure of Land Development Banks 57 – 58

03 Land Records Management 58 – 59

04 Model Land Leasing Act, 2016 59 – 60

14. Miscellaneous Topics 61 –

01 Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) 61 –62

02 Farm Loan Waiver 62 – 63

15. Economic Survey 2019-20 65 – 65

16. Niti Aayog Strategy for New India 65 – 71

01 Doubling Farmer’s Income 65 – 71

17. Committees Related to Agriculture 71 – 76

02 Ashok Dalwai Committee on Doubling Farmers Income 73 – 76

1. Previous Year Questions

 Types of Crops and Cropping Pattern

Sl.No. Questions Year

4. What is allelopathy? Discuss its role in major cropping systems of irrigated

 Different types of Irrigation and Irrigation Systems

Sl.No. Questions Year

1. Elaborate the impact of National Watershed Project in increasing agricultural

2. What is water-use efficiency? Describe the role of micro-irrigation in increasing the

Sl.No. Questions Year

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 E-Technology to Aid Farmers

Sl.No. Questions Year

Sl.No. Questions Year

 PDS (objectives, Functioning, Limitations, Revamping, issues of Buffer Stocks &

Sl.No. Questions Year

1. Explain various types of revolutions, took place in Agriculture after Independence in

2. Food security bill is expected to eliminate hunger and malnutrition in India.

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Sl.No. Questions Year

 Economics of Animal Rearing

Sl.No. Questions Year

Sl.No. Questions Year

1. Examine the role of supermarkets in supply chain management of fruits, vegetables

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 Land Reforms in India

Sl.No. Questions Year

2. Establish the relationship between land reform, agriculture productivity and

Types of Crops and Cropping Pattern

Different types of Irrigation and Irrigation Systems

E-Technology to Aid Farmers

PDS (objectives, Functioning, Limitations, Revamping, issues of Buffer Stocks &

Economics of Animal Rearing

Land Reforms in India

Cropping Patterns in India:

Categories of Crops in India:

Examples of Cropping Patterns:

Maize based cropping systems:

Fruit & Spice Region:

Key Issues in Indian Agriculture Cropping Pattern:

Issue of Low Productivity:

Causes of Low Productivity in India:

Measures to Improve Productivity:

Issues and Challenges in Indian Irrigation:

Status of Micro Irrigation in India:

Benefits of Micro Irrigation:

Objectives of the Agriculture Export Policy Areas under:

Elements of Agriculture Export Policy:

Model APMC Act:

Issues in implementing Model APLM Act:

Benefits of E-Technology to Farmers:

Benefits of Direct Subsidy:

Issues of Direct Subsidy: