NSS survey on farmers is the mid-term report card of Modi’s promise, with ‘fail’ written on it

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heyThe most popular slogan of the current farmers’ movement is that we are fighting for ourselves.nose and crop”- our offspring and produce. latest official Survey The condition of the farmers shows how true this is. The findings of this major government report, released on 10 September 2021, should be a wake-up call not only for policy makers and politicians, but also for farmers and farmers’ movements.

So far, the response to this much-awaited NSS 77th Round on “Assessment of the Status of Agricultural Households and Land and Livestock Holdings of Families in Rural India, 2019”, has focused on the news-y discovery of an increase in the loan amount. The arrears – for an average farmer family – increased from Rs 47,000 to over Rs 74,000. This is worrying, especially because of the underlying trend – the ‘better’ the state or farmer, the higher the pending debt. Still, it is a symptom, not a disease. The real issue is the farmers’ income or lack thereof.

It has been seen in some reports that what this survey says about the income of farmers. An average farming family earns around Rs 10,000 per month, which is less than what a domestic worker earns in big cities. He also mentioned that in the six years since a similar survey in 2013, the figure has increased from Rs 6,442 to Rs 10,218.

As shocking as these figures are, they still hide more. They leave you with the impression that farming gives more than Rs 10,000 per month, and while the base is low, it is growing at a reasonable pace. Nothing can be more confusing than this. Here’s why.

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issues with nss Survey statistics

First, income is misleading because it is an average. This average includes large farmers with land holdings of more than 10 acres who earn around Rs 30,000 per month (not more than a Class IV employee of the government). The average family income of an average farmer cultivating 1 to 2.5 acres of land is much less than Rs 8,571 per month.

Second, this amount is not agricultural income; This is the income of a farmer family. It’s not hair-splitting – understanding the difference is at the heart of the matter. Not everyone in a farmer family is a farmer. And whatever a farmer earns is not through farming. The survey operates with a broader definition of “agricultural household”: any rural household that earns some minimum amount from the cultivation of crops or animal husbandry. So, the family in which the father looks after the fields, the mother takes care of the buffaloes, the daughter teaches in a local school and the son runs a shop, is an agricultural family. All these four forms of income will be added and counted as income of a farmer family. The income from crop cultivation may be a small part of the family income.

This is not a hypothetical example. The latest survey shows that the income from agriculture accounts for a little more than a third of the income of an agricultural family. In a month, this average family earns just Rs 3,798 from different types of crops, Rs 1,582 from animal husbandry, Rs 641 from business and Rs 4,063 from wages and salaries. In other words, a farmer’s family earns more by selling their labor elsewhere than working in their fields. So, the figure to remember is Rs 3,798, the income per month of a farmer from farming. This shows why there is so much rush towards the cities, why everyone clamors for government jobs.

Third, even this modest figure is bloated, as it takes an overly liberal view of a farmer’s income. This calculation looks at all money received by the farmer from selling all agricultural produce, minus all costs paid directly by the farmer to grow the crop. The difference is considered to be the profit of the farmer. The family’s own labor and other inputs are not counted in the cost and thus increase the profit. If you value these inputs not paid for in cash, the total cost of harvest and animal husbandry increases and profits are reduced. If you follow this right method, the average monthly income from crop farming comes down to just Rs 3,058 and from animal husbandry to Rs 441. In that case the total income of a farmer family is only Rs.8,337 per month.

Fourth, the assumption of healthy growth in farmer’s income is false as it is based on nominal figures that do not take inflation into account. Between 2013 and 2019, between the previous and the present survey, the nominal income of farmers increased by 59 percent. But if you adjust these figures for inflation (consumer price index for rural India for June 2019, base year 2012), the increase is just 22 percent. As we noted, this includes all types of income for the whole family. If we focus only on the income from crop production, the income of a farmer has actually decreased in these six years. In 2013, a farmer earned Rs 3,081 from farming. This was equal to Rs 2,770 at the base year 2012 price. If we maintain the same base year, the latest monthly income of farmers from farming (Rs 3,798) is equal to Rs 2,645. This equates to a 5 per cent decline in six years.

So, the actual headline for the survey should have been: ‘Historic Doubling of Farmers’ Income Mission Leads to a Historic Decline.’

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Report card on the DeFi project

This NSS survey is the first report card of the famous six years Project On Doubling of Farmers’ Income (DFI) announced with much fanfare in February 2016. The six years covered by this report (2013–19) are different from the six years of DFI (2016–22). But it is fair to conclude that the results are unlikely to be different, as the years after 2019 saw pandemics and lockdowns. This survey suggests that the growth in real, inflation-accounting income of farming households will not exceed 22 percent. as i have argued EastThis is not too far from boasting of 100 per cent growth, this growth will be less than the normal agricultural growth of the last 10 years. A real historical foot indeed!

Even though we refer to this survey as a medium-term report card, as it covers the first three years of DFIs, the performance is close to the 35 per cent growth in real income estimated by the Narendra Modi government’s committee on DFIs for this period. Not there. . The contribution of agricultural income to the total household income of farmers is declining, and not increasing, as estimated by the DFI committee. ‘Fail’ is written on the top of the mid-term report card.

However, it will be a pity if we use this survey only to expose the false claims of Narendra Modi government. The darker trends and patterns revealed by this survey point to a structural crisis of modern agriculture: small farm size, a large proportion of landless labourers, failure of agricultural insurance, non-functioning of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system and agriculture to shut down official encourage farming from farmers

The much-awaited “Green Revolution” agricultural model has reached an impasse. Indian agriculture needs subsidies and massive public sector investment. Need a lot more. If we’re serious about saving nose and cropWe need to rethink the current model of agriculture: how can we stem the tide of farmers becoming agricultural labourers? How can we make small farms profitable? The historic movement of farmers should take note of this with the immediate task of getting rid of unwanted agricultural laws and getting better prices. This survey of farmers’ condition reminds us that the farmers’ movement has not come a day early.

Yogendra Yadav is a co-founder of Jai Kisan Andolan and a member of Swaraj India. Thoughts are personal.

(Edited by Srinjoy Dey)

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