Input costs for agriculture have been rising over the past few years, while food inflation has been declining. This indicates that farmers are getting lower returns for some types of produce while investing more than before. An RBI survey shows that farmers get widely varying returns based on the crops.
The RBI survey was conducted in December 2018 and covered 9,403 farmers, traders and retailers across 18 States. The wholesale Price Index, a measure of change in price over time, shows that the cost of investments by farmers has risen between 2016 & 2019.
