NEW DELHI, Dec 17: Meghalaya ranks first in the country as far as average monthly income per agricultural household is concerned at Rs 29,348 per month.
It is interesting to note that Meghalaya’s average monthly income per agricultural household nearly triples than the all-India average of Rs 10,218.
It is also higher than the average group of Northeastern states, which is Rs 16.863 per month.
After Meghalaya, other Northeastern states’ rank remains as such — Arunachal Pradesh (Rs 19,225), Mizoram (Rs 17,964), Sikkim (Rs 12,447), Manipur (Rs 11,227), Assam (Rs 10,675), Tripura (Rs 9,918) and Nagaland (Rs 9,877).
This was revealed by Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar, who was replying to a question by Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjeev Arora during the ongoing winter session of the Parliament.
At all-India level, Punjab’s average monthly income per agricultural household is second-highest at Rs 26,701, which is then followed by Haryana (Rs 22,841), Arunachal Pradesh (Rs 19,225), Jammu & Kashmir (Rs 18,918), Group of UTs (Rs 18,511), Kerala (Rs 17,915), Uttarakhand (Rs 13,552), Karnataka (Rs 13,441), Gujarat (Rs 12,631), Rajasthan (Rs 12,520), Himachal Pradesh (Rs 12,153), Tamil Nadu (Rs 11,924), Maharashtra (Rs 11,492), Andhra Pradesh (Rs 10,480), Chhattisgarh (Rs 9,677), Telangana (Rs 9,403), Madhya Pradesh (Rs 8,339), Uttar Pradesh (Rs 8,061), Bihar (Rs 7,542), West Bengal (Rs 6,762), Odisha (Rs 5,112) and Jharkhand (Rs 4,895).
Considering dependence on maximum cash crops, Punjab would rank first, but Meghalaya has a major share of horticulture and fruits.
Experts have advised Punjab farmers to go for diversification by taking up horticulture and fruits as done by Meghalaya.
The Union minister was quoting the Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) of Agricultural Households in the rural areas of the country conducted by National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) during the 77th round (January 2019- December 2019) with reference to the agricultural year July 2018-June 2019.
The agriculture income includes income from wages, income from leasing out of land, net receipt from crop production, net receipt from farming of animals and net receipt from non-farm business.
