Integrated farming key to boost farmers income: Agriculture Minister

Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today asked MPs to urge states to promote location specific Integrated Farming System (IFS) for achieving the goal of doubling farmers' income by 2022.

He said IFS addresses the multiple objectives of raising production, profits, cost-reduction through recycling, family nutrition, ecological security and employment generation, among others.

"Small farms (of up to 2 hectare) hold the key to ensuring food and nutritional security of India. Therefore, location specific integration is necessary," he said in the Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting on agriculture ministry here.

MPs were informed that the income of farmers will go up by producing field crops along with other farm activities like dairy and poultry, he said in a statement.

Stating that the Centre is promoting scientifically designed and tailor-made IFS, Singh requested Members of Parliament to impress upon states to promote the location specific IFS models.

Quoting the 2017-18 Economic Survey, he also mentioned that the share of income of farmers from crop production increased by only 1 per cent, while it increased by 7 per cent for livestock over a period of 10 years.