In 2016, amid a severe drought, Prime Minister Narendra Modi set an ambitious national goal: doubling farmers’ real incomes by 2022–23. The promise was rooted in a long-held belief that rural prosperity is the foundation of India’s overall development. Nearly a decade later, evidence suggests that this goal remains only partially realised. Yet, a quiet experiment in Maharashtra’s drought-prone Beed district offers an alternative pathway—not just to double, but to multiply farm incomes many times over.
The promise and limits of the ‘doubling farmers’ income’ goal
The idea of doubling farmers’ incomes was meant to shift policy focus from output-centric measures to income security. However, assessments by institutions such as the indicate that the actual income growth achieved during this period was less than half the intended target. Structural constraints—small landholdings, water stress, low value addition, and weak market access—continued to weigh heavily on rural livelihoods.
A drought district that defied conventional wisdom
Around the same time, Mayank Gandhi initiated an experiment called Krishikul under the in Beed, one of Maharashtra’s most water-stressed districts. The core idea was simple but radical: move farmers away from low-value, rain-dependent crops like soybean and cotton, and towards high-value fruit crops using scientific farming methods. Farmers were encouraged to adopt papaya, guava, pomegranate, sweet lime, banana and other horticultural crops through high-density plantation techniques.
What the Krishikul results reveal
An independent evaluation by the in 2024 found that per-acre farmer incomes rose more than tenfold—from about ₹38,700 to nearly ₹3.93 lakh within a relatively short transition period. Cumulatively, the initiative has led to the plantation of over 6.7 crore fruit trees across 43,000 acres, benefiting around 30,000 farm families in nearly 5,000 villages. These outcomes challenge the assumption that drought-prone regions are condemned to low agricultural returns.
The building blocks behind the income surge
The transformation was not accidental but the result of a carefully sequenced strategy:
- Trust-building through sustained engagement with farmers and understanding their socio-economic constraints.
- Access to quality saplings procured in bulk and supplied at subsidised rates, supported by CSR funding, notably from the .
- Creation of a central Krishikul campus for experimentation and farmer training.
- Large-scale groundwater recharge using farm ponds, check dams and Global River Aquashafts, which dramatically raised local water tables.
- Formal credit access backed by a first-loss default guarantee, reducing banks’ lending risks.
Echoes of the White Revolution
The Krishikul story inevitably invites comparison with India’s dairy transformation. In the 1960s, an experiment in Gujarat’s Kheda district led by Verghese Kurien was scaled nationally through the under Operation Flood. Political backing from Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri turned a local success into the White Revolution. Today, India is the world’s largest milk producer, despite relying mainly on smallholders—a reminder that scale can be achieved without corporate consolidation.
Why scaling up remains the real challenge
While Krishikul has demonstrated proof of concept, its replication requires state support. The next income leap lies beyond production—in controlling the value chain. Aggregation, grading, cold storage, processing and direct market access are essential if farmers are to capture a larger share of the consumer’s rupee. Currently, farmers receive barely 25–33 per cent of retail prices; the target must be at least 60 per cent. Achieving this demands coordinated action across governments, NGOs and private enterprises.
What to note for Prelims?
- Krishikul is a horticulture-led income augmentation model in Beed, Maharashtra.
- It focuses on high-density fruit plantations and groundwater recharge.
- TISS evaluated its impact, reporting over 10X increase in per-acre incomes.
- The model combines CSR funding, credit guarantees and scientific farming.
What to note for Mains?
- Limits of income-support strategies focused only on production.
- Role of diversification towards horticulture in drought-prone regions.
- Importance of value-chain integration for sustainable farm incomes.
- Lessons from historical successes like Operation Flood for scaling innovations.
