Legislation proposed to ensure farmers’ security

‘Set up Farmers Income Commission’

August 07, 2013 10:36 am | Updated June 10, 2016 07:29 am IST - PALAKKAD:

K. Krishnanakutty told Kerala had created history in bringing major reforms in the agriculture sector.

K. Krishnanakutty told Kerala had created history in bringing major reforms in the agriculture sector.

K. Krishnankutty, chairman of the subcommittee for the draft agriculture development policy of the State, has urged the government to bring in legislation in the next session of the Assembly to implement its major recommendation of Farmers Income Guarantee programme.

He told The Hindu here on Friday that Kerala, which had created history in bringing major reforms in the agriculture sector such as the land reforms Act, should take the initiative in passing the Farmers Income Guarantee Act to assure all farming households a decent income to meet the basic living expenses. He said a statutory Farmers Income Commission should be established to ensure the accountability for thousands of crores of rupees being spent in the name of farmers.

The measures should include Minimum Support Price (MSP), procurement at remunerative price, price compensation, marketing and credit support, crop insurance, disaster compensation, and producer bonus for rain-fed and ecological farmers, Mr. Krishnankutty said.

The policy statement said that “if the vision envisaged in the policy document is to be accomplished, the farmers in Kerala should be assured an income to the tune of that received by Class Four employees in the State Service.” The National Farmer’s Commission has stated that “Progress in agriculture should be measured by the growth rate in the net income of farm families … moving away from an attitude which measures progress only in millions of tonnes of food-grains and other farm commodities,” the Agriculture Policy statement said.

Mr. Krishnankutty said that as per the National Commission for Enterprises in Unorganised Sector report (NCEUS-2007), real income of farmers has stagnated, with the average being Rs.1,650 per family per month as against the family expense in the villages of Rs.2,150 a month. Even at such below-poverty level consumption, the average family still spends more than it earns, thus getting into debt.

He said that in spite of the promised price support, the government often intervenes to keep prices low for the consumers and industry. This is a reason for not providing adequate MSP to farmers. Farmers did not want the burden of providing affordable food to people upon them, the State and nation should bear it, he said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.