Safe Agri Value Chain Strengthening Rural Resilience to Climate Impacts in Uttar Pradesh

By 2022, India was seeking to double the farmer’s income; an ambitious and worthy goal. Despite being the fi rst link to settled civilisation’s prosperity, farmers have become the poster child of poverty as is evident from the low (15- 40%) share of farmers in consumer’s price of food items. IndiaSpend report reveals alarming statistics that indicate 70% of India’s 90 million agricultural households spend more than they earn on average each month, pushing them towards debt, which is now the primary reason for more than half of all suicides by farmers nationwide. The main reason for this is that use of external inputs in present agriculture has made the farm economy unviable. Most of the small and marginal farmers sell their produce from the fi eld to intermediaries and traders. They neither have the capacity to store their produce nor do they engage in any processing activity. As a result, they do not get remunerative prices. Moreover, the food produced is not safe for human consumption.