Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday, 25 June 2026 reaffirmed the government's commitment to raising farmers' incomes, saying the Agriculture Ministry would pursue every possible effort to make farming profitable — with the Integrated Farming Model at the centre of that strategy.

Posting on X, Chouhan wrote: 'आदरणीय प्रधानमंत्री जी के मार्गदर्शन में कृषि मंत्री के रूप में हमारा संकल्प है कि किसानों की आमदनी बढ़ाकर रहना है।' ('Under the guidance of the respected Prime Minister, our resolve as Agriculture Minister is to raise the income of farmers. We must make every possible effort for this. To make agriculture profitable, we will have to adopt the Integrated Farming Model.')

Context

The statement positions Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership as the guiding framework for agricultural income policy. Chouhan, a former four-term Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, has consistently aligned his ministerial agenda with the broader national goal of making farming economically viable rather than a subsistence-level occupation. The post underscores a personal pledge — the word 'sankalp' (resolve) signals a commitment framed as non-negotiable.

The emphasis on the Integrated Farming Model — a diversified approach combining crops, livestock, fisheries and agroforestry — reflects a deliberate shift away from single-crop dependence, which leaves farmers exposed to price volatility and weather shocks.

Policy Backdrop

The push for farmer income enhancement has deep roots in central government policy. In 2016, the government announced an ambitious target of doubling farmers' income by 2022, anchored in structural reforms, crop diversification and value addition. While that deadline has passed, the underlying policy direction — raising net returns per hectare rather than relying solely on minimum support prices — has remained consistent.

The PM-KISAN scheme, launched in 2019, introduced direct income transfers to landholding farmer families as a complementary income-support measure. Integrated farming clusters have since been piloted in several states, with field data suggesting meaningfully higher net returns per hectare compared with mono-crop systems. Chouhan's post signals that this model will receive renewed ministerial attention.

Stakeholders and Impact

Small and marginal farmers, who constitute the majority of India's agricultural households, stand to gain most from a successful rollout of integrated farming. By combining multiple income streams — crop sales, dairy, fisheries, horticulture — on the same landholding, the model reduces the risk of a single bad season wiping out annual earnings.

Agricultural economists have long argued that income diversification at the farm level is more durable than price-support mechanisms alone. Chouhan's public commitment adds political weight to what has so far been a largely technical recommendation from policy planners.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to how the Ministry operationalises this commitment — whether through new integrated farming clusters, enhanced extension services, or dedicated budget allocations in the next Union Budget or an Agricultural Roadmap announcement. State governments, particularly in large agrarian states, will be key implementation partners. Any concrete scheme launch or funding announcement will be a significant indicator of how quickly this resolve translates into ground-level action.