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New Delhi, Apr 20, 2023, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT/ TT
New Delhi, Apr 20: A survey carried out across the country, including north-eastern states of Tripura, Assam and Nagaland besides West Bengal, has come to the conclusion that 70 per cent of over 6,000 marginal farmers engage in non-farm activities for income support.
But, interestingly, 84 per cent of them do not want to sell off their land to pursue other economic activities, the study has found.
The survey covered marginal farmers in 20 states including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh, besides the three NE states and West Bengal.
According to the study conducted by the Development Intelligence Unit (DIU), a collaborative venture between Transforming Rural India Foundation and Sambodhi, marginal farmers are largely engaged in non-agricultural activities like wage labour and livestock management to supplement their income.
Small and marginal farmers with less than two hectares of land holding account for a little over 86 per cent of all farmers in India, but own just about 47 per cent of the crop area, according to the 10th agriculture census 2015-16.
The study titled ‘Annual Survey Of State Of Marginal Farmers In India’, highlights that 84 per cent of the marginal farmers in spite of low profits and natural calamities are not willing to quit farming, and are not interested in selling off their land to pursue other economic activities.
According to the survey, 93.9 per cent of the farmers with 0 to 0.5 acres of land and 81.39 per cent with 2 to 2.5 acres prefer to continue farming. In contrast, only 5.32 per cent of the smallest landholding farmers and 14.76 per cent of the largest landholding farmers want to reduce this activity. Around 10.99 per cent chose to reduce it in due course, while only 2.77 per cent wanted to leave farming altogether.
The survey also found high awareness of different government schemes with 79.9 per cent of farmers being aware of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sammaan Nidhi (PMKISAN) Scheme, 55 per cent of Kisan Credit Card (KCC), and 48.9 per cent being aware of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). The Utilisation of PMKISAN was also high at 64.8 per cent while 25.4 per cent aware of the KCC utilised it.
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