MC EXCLUSIVE 'Beyond Production': EAC-PM Chairman calls for 'value chain approach' to boost farm incomes

Govt should focus should be on agri-processing, food processing, says S Mahendra Dev

• Government urged to focus on post-harvest policies to boost farmer income
• Agri-processing, tech, and aggregation key for employment and value addition
• Shift from agriculture to manufacturing and services needed for growth

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The government should focus on 'post-harvest' crop policies to effectively utilise farm produce and increase farmers’ income, S Mahendra Dev, Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, said on Wednesday.

"More post-harvest kind of activities we should focus on, as production doesn't give much employment…but if you have a 'value chain approach', then we'll have more higher employment prospects," Mahendra Dev told Moneycontrol in an exclusive interview.

He highlighted three focus areas: "(a) One, we should have technology which will increase the productivity; (b) Second, focus should be on agri-processing, food processing, which can increase the value added and also employment; and (c) third, since we have small and marginal farmers, we need to have aggregation of their production, because they can't compete alone with a few bags of commodities."

"So, somebody has to be there to aggregate, like FPOs, cooperatives or self-help groups," Mahendra Dev said.

The EAC-PM Chairman noted that in the last two Budgets, the government has unveiled some measures for edible oils and pulses.

In October 2024, the government had launched the 'National Mission on Edible Oils – Oilseeds', targeted at increasing production of oilseeds like mustard, groundnut, soybean, sunflower, and sesamum. They key goal of the programme is to increase oilseed production from 39 million tonnes (2022-23) to 69.7 million tonnes by 2030-31.

"This is because, we are dependent on imports for these two commodities. And the government is also focusing on '100 districts program' – where some focus is on these crops, pulses, and oil seeds. But my feeling is that production is one aspect, but we need to go beyond it," he said.

Additionally, use digitization, AI, technology for agriculture, noted Mahendra Dev.

"Farmers that already have mobiles are using it to get the information…how much fertilizer, how much pesticides to use. I think we should go beyond production for agriculture and then improve the value chains so that can their incomes may improve," he added.

Meanwhile, on growth, the EAC-PM Chairman said that to sustain 7-8% growth rate in GDP, structural transformation of economy’s from agriculture to manufacturing and services is needed. "Because India has 46% of working population in agriculture, which is 15% of GDP. So that unless we shift the workers to manufacturing and services with skills, education and other things, then we can't achieve higher growth," he said.