8. Assessing Income, Expenditure, and Production Assets of Agricultural Households in India

With 66% of the population residing in rural areas (World Bank 2019), India’s economy remains primarily based on agriculture, which continues to be the primary source of income for a significant portion of this population. Agricultural production in India has been steadily increasing and reached nearly 290 million tonnes in 2019; however, India still has an undernourished population of approximately 14% (Grebmer et al., Global hunger index: one decade to zero hunger: linking health and sustainable food systems, 2020). The 2019 household-level data from the NSSO on agricultural households and land and livestock holdings in rural India will serve as the basis for this paper’s analysis of the average monthly income and expenses on productive assets and crop production. The NSSO gathered data on receipts and expenses related to crop production, animal farming, and non-farm businesses separately during the agricultural year from July 2018 to June 2019, in two halves.