Agri households earn about Rs 6,400 monthly, says study

Agricultural households earned on average Rs 6,426 monthly during agricultural year July 2012 to June 2013.

A report from the ministry of statistics and programme implementation says income from cultivation and allied agricultural activities accounted for 60 per cent of their total income. A third accrued from regular salaried or casual wage employment.  

The report was based on the National Sample Survey Office's Situation Assessment Survey of agricultural households, conducted during January-December 2013. It estimated the average monthly consumption expenditure of these households to be Rs 6,223.  

Also that these households spent Rs 1,087 a month on income enhancing assets for both farm and non-farm businesses. Of this, a third was on agricultural machinery, 18 per cent on livestock and poultry, and 42 per cent on ‘other assets in farm businesses’.

By comparison, expenditure on productive assets for use in the non-farm sector accounted for only seven per cent of the total monthly expenditure.

The survey, in 4,529 villages and covering 35,200 households, found for those engaged in cultivation, income from this was Rs 5,542 a month.

Income from allied activities such as livestock accounted for a sizable share. The average monthly income from farming of animals for those engaged in these activities was Rs 2,604 a month, a little more than two-thirds of which was from sale of milk. Income from non-farm activities was Rs 5,290 a month.

About 52 per cent of the households had loan dues. Of which, 60 per cent were taken from formal sources of finance, while roughly a fourth were from agricultural or professional money lenders.