The percentage of workers in the usual status engaged in agriculture and allied sector, has gone down. Hence, government has made several efforts to boost interest of the people in farming. The government has taken several policies, reforms, developmental programmes and schemes for making agriculture more profitable profession also like supplementary income transfers under PM-KISAN of Rs 6000 per year in three equal installments, increase in Minimum Support Price (MSPs) for all Kharif & Rabi crops ensuring a minimum of 50 percent of profit margin on the cost of production, crop insurance under Pradhan Mantri FasalBimaYojna (PMFBY), better access to irrigation under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY), special attention for creation of infrastructure through Agri Infrastructure Fund (AIF) with a size of Rs. 100,000 crore, new procurement policy under PM-AASHA in addition to FCI operations, Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) among others.

MSP of essential crops

The government has increased Minimum Support Price (MSP) for 22 mandated Kharif, Rabi and other commercial crops with at least 50 per cent margin over the all-India weighted average cost of production from 2018-2019. National Statistical Office (NSO) conducted 77th round of Situation Assessment Survey (SAS), 2019 of Agricultural Households in the rural areas to estimate average monthly income per agriculture household by sources such as income from wages and leasing out of land, net receipt from crop production and farming of animals and non-farm business. Besides, government has adopted several developmental programmes, schemes, reforms and policies for achieving higher incomes for the farmers.

Stubble burning

ICAR- Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi has developed a microbial consortium Pusa Decomposer for in-situ accelerated decomposition of stubble or parali. Four capsules of this product can be scaled up to 25L liquid formulation, which are diluted to 500L and applied in- situ to 1.0 ha of combine harvested rice field having 5-6 tonnes of paddy straw. After application, the microbial decomposer and straw are mixed in soil uniformly using mechanical interventions.

Impact of climate change

The impact of climate change on agriculture and farmers’ lives is obvious. Extensive field and simulation studies were carried out in agriculture by the network centres located in different parts of the country. The climate change impact assessment was carried out using the crop simulation models by incorporating the projected climates of 2050 & 2080. In absence of adoption of adaptation measures, rainfed rice yields in India are projected to reduce by 20% in 2050 and 47% in 2080 scenarios, while, irrigated rice yields are projected to reduce by 3.5% in 2050 and 5% in 2080 scenarios. Climate change is projected to reduce wheat yield by 19.3% in 2050 and 40% in 2080 scenarios towards the end of the century. Climate change also reduces crop yields and lowers nutrition quality of produce.