Shillong, Dec 18: Meghalaya ranks first in the country as far as the 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 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
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 the all-India level, Punjab’s average monthly income per agricultural household is second-highest at Rs 26,701 and other states are –
Haryana – Rs 22,841
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
Jharkhand – Rs 4,895
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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 the 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 the land, net receipt from crop production, net receipt from farming of animals, and net receipt from the non-farm business.