The book on Doubling Farmers’ Income – Challenges, Opportunities and Strategies for Horticulture Sector is intended to examine the status of farmers income and sources of income growth across states in India. The status of farmers income across states is obtained from the report of committee on doubling farmers income, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. National Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in collaboration with NITI Aayog and Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare have brought ways in which income of farmers may be enhanced, viz., increasing the gross income, reducing the costs and stabilizing the income. The book adopts and discusses the same approach with different pathways to achieve doubling of farmers' income forthe state of Karnataka. The book specially looks at the challenges and opportunities that exist to enhance the income of farmers for horticulture sector in the state of Karnataka. In Karnataka, agriculture and horticulture activities combined constitutes about 46% of the farmer’s income followed by 14% from non-farm activities and 13% from livestock %. During the last two decades, horticultural crops have emerged as the second line of defence in the food production. Fruits and vegetables give 4-10 times the return from other crop groups. Ways to enhance the incomes of farmers are suggested after analysing the challenges and constraints with interventions and strategies. The framework for doubling farmers, income is discussed under broad categories of production augmenting, cost reducing, diversification, infrastructure improvement, market access. Within these broad categories, specific interventions for the sector of horticulture are highlighted and suggestions are made for enhancing income of farmers.
Basavaraj Gali works as Deputy Director at Centre of Excellence for Farmer Producer Organizations, University of Horticultural Sciences, GKVK Campus, Bengaluru. Dr. G.Basavaraj is a qualified agricultural economist and has over 20+ years of experience in the field of agriculture development as a researcher, academician and development specialist. Dr. Basavaraj’s research expertise includes analyzing patterns of household food consumption, food demand estimation, food projections, value chain analysis, agricultural policies and markets. He has to his credit 30 research publications in reputed International and National journals and has handled 22 National and International projects for agricultural development. At present he is working on designing policies for farmer producer organizations, building capacities, developing business and establishing market linkages.
Dr. Ashok Alur has a Ph.D. in Agriculture and also holds MBA & Post Graduate Diploma in Agricultural Extension Management. He has undergone over 10 National & International executive development & management development programs. He has over two decades of experience in different areas of Natural Resource Management, Agriculture, Horticulture, Rural Development, Higher Education, International Co-operation, Institutional Development, Entrepreneurship Development and Promotion of FPOs, etc. He is currently serving as Director, Centre of Excellence for Farmer Producer Organizations & Professor of Soil Science at UHS Bagalkot. Previously he has served as Vice Chancellor at Anantapur(Andhra Pradesh); Special Officer & Professor at UHS Bagalkot; Project Coordinator at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT); Program Coordinator & Head, Sustainable Agriculture in Swiss Agency for Development & Co-operation & Team Member inAgriculture-Man-Ecology, a bilateral program of Govt. of Netherlands & India. Currently he is leading the team of experts at COE-FPO in training and capacity building of FPOs in Karnataka; he has led the team of experts for Land Resource Inventorization of 300 micro watersheds, development of resources atlas & Decision Support Systems for Land & Water Management. He spear-headed an international joint initiative of ICRISAT-FAO-CFC (Common Fund for Commodities) for promoting value chain across cereals & millets in Asia & contributed for the development of innovative institutional model for the collaborative development of agriculture sector. He was instrumental in implementing Indo-Swiss Participative Watershed Development, Karnataka & Natural Resources Management Programs in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu by promoting participative & collaborative approaches in Natural Resources Management & Watershed Development. He has also guided the Food Security Initiatives, establishment of Soil Health Laboratories and popularization of concept of Custom Hiring Centres in African countries, such as Mozambique & Swaziland
1. Introduction .......................................................................................... 1
1.1 Status of Farmers, Income in India.......................................... 2
1.2 Status of Farmers, Income Across States ................................ 3
1.3 Sources of Income Growth ........................................................ 4
1.4 Status of Farmers, Income in Karnataka ................................ 5
1.5 Framework of Income Growth................................................. 6
2. Challenges and Constraints for Enhancing Incomes ................. 9
2.1 Production Challenges ............................................................. 10
2.1.1 Bridging Yield Gaps ........................................................ 10
2.1.2 Unavailability of Quality Planting Material............... 12
2.1.3 Crop Breeding and Bio-technology Tools-Technological Advancements ............................ 14
2.2 Input Use .................................................................................... 17
2.2.1 Fertilizers .......................................................................... 17
2.2.2 Pest Management and Pesticides Use ......................... 20
2.2.3 Institutional & Non-institutional Credit ..................... 22
2.2.4. Farm Mechanization ..................................................... 24
2.2.5. Inefficient Water Use and Conservation ................... 27
2.2.6. Technology Adoption.................................................... 31
2.3 Dwindling Resource Base........................................................ 37
2.4 Cropping Systems ..................................................................... 41
2.5 Technology Transfer and Extension ...................................... 47
3. Cost Reducing .................................................................................... 51
3.1 Organic Farming ....................................................................... 51
3.2 Bio-pesticides ............................................................................. 52
3.3 Bio-fertilizers .............................................................................. 53
3.4 Biological Control of Pests in Horticultural Crops.............. 56
4. Dryland Horticulture, Climate Change and Watershed Development ........................................................ 59
4.1 Risk Mitigating Strategies ........................................................ 61
4.2 Diversification ........................................................................... 62
4.3 Crop Insurance.......................................................................... 62
4.4 Integrated Farming System ..................................................... 66
4.5 Non-farm Sector........................................................................ 67
5. Markets ................................................................................................ 71
5.1 Market Infrastructure .............................................................. 71
5.2 Marketing Constraints ............................................................. 73
5.3 Market Access ........................................................................... 75
5.4 Post Harvest Processing ........................................................... 78
5.5 Emerging Horti-business and Weak Institutional Mechanisms ........................................................ 81
5.6 Horticulture Commodity Prices ............................................. 82
5.7 Exports ........................................................................................ 85
6. Enabling Environment (Policies & Institutions)........................ 91
Conclusions......................................................................................... 95
References .......................................................................................... 97
