Policy Brief: Barriers to Doubling Farmers' Income in Southern India

India's Doubling Farmers' Income (DFI) mission fundamentally misunderstands the challenge of agricultural income enhancement by treating poverty as primarily a technical problem to be solved through market integration and technological adoption. Evidence from our comparative study of 106 farmers across Mysore and Wayanad districts reveals that this approach critically overlooks how social structures and institutional capacity determine policy effectiveness. The stark contrast between these districts demonstrates why DFI's current framework is failing its intended beneficiaries. In Mysore, where 68% of farmers report systematic exclusion from institutional support, DFI's push toward market-oriented agriculture has increased rather than reduced vulnerability. Without this fundamental reorientation, DFI risks deepening rather than resolving the agrarian crisis, particularly for India's most vulnerable farmers.