Agricultural prices policy and farm incomes

Abstract

Agriculture provides employment to about 70per cent of India's population and generates about 50 per cent of the national income. Further, its relative position in this respect has not changed favour ably and significantly in the last two decades. This clearly indicates the importance of agriculture and the relative poverty of farmers in the country. One way to develop agriculture is by formulqting and implementing an appropriate agricultural prices policy which, in one form or another, has been in operation since the end of the second world war. This paper presents a brief review of agricultural prices policy and examines its impact on the in comes of farmers in India. Its findings are what while price support policy has played a positive role in raising farm incomes, the extent of this role has been inadequate and there has consequently been no significant improvement in the contribution of agriculture to national income.