Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Issues related to agriculture in India

Many new and diverse issues came into picture as the yatra proceeded from one state to another.On the basis of it some suggestions came from Yatris like:

Agriculture may be included in the course curriculum of at least secondary school levelling in all states.

In India more than than 65% of the population depends on agriculture.Hence, agriculture may be given a industrial status and therefore adequate budgetary allocation are needed for its developments .The current budget has taken into consideration a bit of it but still lot still needs to be done.

Population growth in rural areas (>4%) is much higher than the national average (<2%).poor health and education system is the major cause for this imbalance .To reduce its dependency on agriculture and further division of land holding ,population management in rural areas should be one of the top priorities.Hence, its popuation policy should be the integral part of agriculture as a more respectable profession.

Rural infrastructure like all weather road , assured electricity and irrigation facility backed with proper marketing avenues for agriculture input and output will go a long way in addressing its concerns of declining profitability in agriculture and to make agriculture as a more respectable profession .

Agro based industries should essentially be set up near rural areas and they can be located on the wasteland sites or land with poor fertility .This will have a multiplier ffects on rural development and checking in rural migration.

Rural bank/credit needs more reforms so that the system becomes more farmer friendly.

No comments: