IMPACT of PMKISAN on Crop Yield and Farm Income in Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Agricultural subsidy and direct benefit transfer are considered as policy instruments for ensuring adoption of modern technologies in protecting the income of small and marginal farmers. Hence, measuring the impact of farm subsidies is important to continue these policies and to protect the income of farmers. This study was conducted in Tamil Nadu and sample size was 360 households. Data were collected from the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries and impact was estimated using Propensity Score Matching (PSM). Our findings show that the total number of beneficiaries in Tamil Nadu was 4.75 lakhs (3.79 %). The average spending of beneficiaries towards crop production from PMKISAN assistance was Rs. 3300 and there was an increase in income among the PMKISAN beneficiaries compared with the non-beneficiaries. The study also found that addressing issues related to land records and ease of e-KYC registration and post offices can validate addresses and make payments/money transfers may increase the number of beneficiaries.