Smallholder Farmer Prosperous Farmer
2025
Saroj Mahapatra | Rajeev Ranjan
Agriculture is the backbone of our country. Close to 100 million smallholder farmers with less than 2 hectares of landholdings represent 83% of all Indian farmers. These smallholder farmers engage in growing a variety of crops and are spread out across the Indian landscape. Their produce accounts for approximately 70% of the food supply in the country. In the central India tribal regions, the small and marginal farmer faces numerous challenges like unavailability of quality inputs at fair prices and at the right time, lack of irrigation infrastructure, affordable credits, crop insurance, markets, post-harvest infrastructure, extension services, and lack of essential services like ploughing, saplings, spraying, etc. In a nutshell, the factors of production are beyond the control of the Small Holder Farmer. The problem becomes more complex when the farmers are women, mostly tribal, in rainfed areas and from pockets that are isolated from the mainstream. Their farm, as well as non-farm productivity, is far lower than the country’s average.To make them move out of the vicious cycle of poverty, collectivization into social and economic collective, collective-led planning, livelihood diversification, asset creation, focus on income and sustainability, and linkage of markets and other ecosystems is required. This article focuses on capturing lessons on promoting smallholder farmers top rosperous farmers in the central India tribal region. The experience is coming from the joint work being done by the PRADAN teams, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and working with National Rural Livelihoods Mission.
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