There is perhaps no sector as important as agriculture in India which contributes about 17 percent to the total GDP and provides employment to a major chunk of the population.

India is now the world’s most populated country, with as many as 1.4 billion people. Feeding such a large population in today’s times is no joke. The need to make farming not just sustainable but also profitable is essential to ensure that India’s food security is maintained.

To that end, the capital infusion in the agricultural sector over the past nine years has been phenomenal. As pointed out by  Union Home Minister Amit Shah on October21, the agricultural budget has seen a five-fold increase under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, going up from Rs 22,000 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 1,22,000 crore now.

In fact, the number of farmers availing farm loans has gone up from 7 lakh to 19 lakh in the same period. Also, compared to 2014, the production of cereals has increased from 323 million tonnes to 665 million tonnes; minimum support price for rice, wheat and millet has seen a rise of 68 per cent, 62.5 per cent and 68 per cent respectively; and outlay for subsidy on fertilisers has increased from Rs 73,000 crore to Rs 2,55,000 crore.

In June, Indian PM Modi had revealed that the Centre is spending Rs 6.5 lakh crore every year for the agriculture sector and farmers’ welfare. Every year, the Indian government provides an average of Rs 50,000 to every farmer in some form or the other. And now, the Modi government plans to double down on its outreach to farmers.

The Centre is actively considering a plan to boost cash support to small farmers by a third, which means the annual direct cash transfer to small farmers will go up to Rs 8,000 compared to the Rs 6,000 they currently receive every year. This will cost the Indian government an extra Rs 200 billion. Officials are also discussing relaxing rules to include more farmers under the direct cash transfer program.

It would be safe to suggest that agriculture and farmers’ welfare has become a focus of the current government, which is why it has rolled out no less than nine welfare schemes intended for farmers. The most famous among them, of course, is the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, which facilitates direct cash transfer to small and marginal farmers. About 120 million farmers are availing the benefits of this scheme and getting Rs 6,000 every year from the government, adding to their income stability.

While the goal of doubling farmers’ income is yet to be realised, there is still a lot that must be highlighted as a success for the country’s agricultural sector. For example, India’s food production saw a rise last year, with agriculture exports hitting a historic high of $50 billion. The farm sector during has witnessed an annual growth rate of 4.6 per cent over the last six years.

The Indian government is also working on creating a start-up ecosystem in agriculture and allied sectors by giving various grants. As per a February statement by the agriculture ministry, between FY20 and FY22, 1,102 start-ups were selected by different knowledge partners and agribusiness incubators. A total of Rs 66.83 crore grants-in-aid was released for funding these start-ups.

In order to deter farmers from getting debt from informal sources that often leads to them paying high interest rates, the  Indian government has put in place a system of concessional institutional credit through the Kisan Credit Card (KCC). With such cards, farmers who repay their loans within one year will only have to pay 4 percent interest per annum. Over 387.87 lakh new KCC applications had been sanctioned as on December 2022.

However, challenges persist too. Farmers’ incomes in states such as Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, and Odisha have been declining instead of rising. The issue of climate change, manifested best in the form of erratic weather conditions, are directly affecting foodgrain production. And then there is the challenge of doubling farmers’ income, which is yet to be realised.

Nevertheless, India’s agriculture sector and farmers are making strides which only a decade ago seemed way beyond their reach. A lot of the success that has been seen has to do with the series of schemes and initiatives rolled out to help Indian farmers and reform the country’s agro sector.