Improving farm support

The sector needs a more focused approach

The initial government estimates suggest kharif grain output this year would hit another record. A higher output should ideally result in higher income for households engaged in farming. But market realities and subsistence farming don’t necessarily make a large number of such households significantly better off even after a bumper crop. This results in distress, and is perhaps one of the reasons why the agitation against three farm laws has continued for so long. Farmers, largely from Punjab, Haryana, and parts of Uttar Pradesh, are demanding the withdrawal of the three laws, and guaranteed minimum support price (MSP). While the