The survey, which is being conducted at the behest of the agriculture ministry, is the first of its kind to take place in the country. Farmers from all states and union territories will be covered under the survey.

According to official sources, the idea behind the survey is to find out the level of preparedness of an average Indian farmer to face the competition that will follow once the WTO regime is totally in place.

Quantitative restrictions on imports of a large number of agricultural products have already been removed by India. For the remaining items, quantitative restrictions are slated to go in April this year.

Although a wall of import tariffs has been put in place to provide a certain degree of protection to farmers, it too will have to be lowered gradually.

"Through the survey, we want to identify the strengths and weaknesses of farmers in various regions," a senior official said. The government then plans to devise a series of programmes to help farmers build on their strong points and get over their weaknesses.

India has already submitted its proposals on agriculture to the WTO in January this year.