The efficacy of investment support schemes to the crop loan waiver schemes to improve the farmers’ income

Abstract

Agriculture in India is at stress. This is due to the plight of the marginal and small farmers; whose incomes are stagnant due to the failure of the markets in providing prices for their produce. This results in the indebtedness, leading to suicides or abandoning of the land in search of better livelihood. The previous interventions of the government did try to improve the situation, but the focus of these interventions was on food security. With the ever-growing inflation and the informal sources of credit in the rural household being approached by the farmer to continue the occupation, the vicious cycle of indebtedness is becoming difficult to break. Two interventions that caught the attention of the governments are the crop loan waivers and the investment support schemes. This paper tries to understand the efficacy of these interventions, qualitatively.