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ABSTRACT

The contribution of agriculture to the GDP has been steadily declining since independence (55% in 1950 to 20.19% in 2021). However, the decline in agricultural workers` contribution is not as severe (67.5% in 1950 to 39.4% in 2021). About 55% of the total agriculture workforce in India is landless, and 86% are small and marginal farmers. It highlights the critical issue of disguised unemployment in our economy. As a result, there is a need to provide viable alternative models for marginal and landless farmers to make them economically and socially uplifted and thus contribute meaningfully to our economy. The paper goes over various such models suitable for marginal and landless farmers.

Keywords: Apiculture, Sericulture, Pisciculture, Community seed bank, Vermicomposting

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Enhancing the income of the marginal and landless farmers Alternatives and Way Forward_compressed.pdf