Sector
Farm Incomes & Farm Distress
How much farming households earn from farming, and the distress that national statistics record among farmers and agricultural labourers.
2 problems within this
Crop cultivation earns agricultural households less than their wages do
In NSO's 2019 survey (NSS 77th round, agricultural year July 2018–June 2019), an agricultural household earned an average of ₹10,218 a month. Wages were the largest source at ₹4,063 (39.8 per cent); net receipts from crop production were ₹3,798 (37.2 per cent), farming of animals ₹1,582 (15.5 per cent), non-farm business ₹641 and leasing out land ₹134. When imputed costs such as family labour are also deducted, crop income falls to ₹3,058 and total income to ₹8,337. These are averages for households meeting the survey's definition of an agricultural household — more than ₹4,000 of agricultural produce and a member self-employed in agriculture — so households living entirely on agricultural labour are outside them. This entry uses the 2019 survey; no later round is used here. Evidence confidence: High for 2018-19; the current position is not established.
Suicides by farmers and agricultural labourers are recorded every year as a distinct category of national suicide statistics
The National Crime Records Bureau reports suicides by farmers — defined to include those cultivating their own, leased or others' land — and by agricultural labourers as separate categories in its annual Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India (ADSI). The Ministry of Agriculture restated this definition to Parliament in December 2021, and in July 2024 the Ministry of Home Affairs told the Lok Sabha that published ADSI reports were then available only up to 2022. This entry records that the problem is measured and reported nationally. It deliberately does not quote annual counts: the figures could not be checked against NCRB's own tables when the entry was written, and they should be added from those tables rather than from secondary reporting. Evidence confidence: High that the category is measured and published; counts pending verification.
Alongside this
Land Holdings, Tenancy & Land Records
The size of farm holdings, the terms on which land is cultivated, and the records that establish who holds and farms it.
Irrigation & Agricultural Water
Access to irrigation, the pace of irrigation projects, and the groundwater that much irrigation draws on.
Soil Health & Farm Practices
The condition of agricultural soils and the farm practices — fertiliser use, residue burning — that change it.
Seeds, Fertilisers & Pesticides
The quality of the inputs farmers buy and the law that regulates it.
Farm Mechanisation
How far farm operations are mechanised, and whether small farmers can reach machinery.
Agricultural Markets & Price Realisation
Whether farmers can reach a market, sell at the support price, and rely on stable prices.
Do you support action on this problem?