Government Policies Drive Farmers to Penury

The report of the 77th round of the National Sample Survey on agricultural and rural households once again reiterates the growing immiseration of the farmers. The fragmented landholdings and slow growth of income from crop and animal farming have forced an increasing number of agricultural households to take up wage labour to sustain livelihoods. Moreover, the efforts to raise their income from non-farm activities have also not been very successful.

The report indicates that between 2012–13 and 2018–19, the number of agricultural households increased marginally from 90 million to 93 million. However, the declining viability of farming has reduced the share of agricultural households in total rural households from 58% to 54% during the period. Moreover, continued fragmentation has increased the share of small landholdings, of less than 1 hectare, from 67.1% in 2012–13 to 70.4% in 2018–19. In contrast, the share of large landowning households, with above 10 hectares, remained stable at 0.4% during the period.