DELHI: An India government report on the “State of Indian agriculture” has called for increased public sector investment in research and effective transfer of technology along with institutional reforms in research set-up to make it more accountable and geared towards delivery. Conservation of land, water and biological resources, development of rainfed agriculture, development of minor irrigation, timely and adequate availability of inputs, support for marketing infrastructure and increasing flow of credit, particularly to the small and marginal farmers, are the thrust areas for the agriculture sector, according to the report. Despite the fall in the contribution of agriculture to the overall gross domestic product (GDP) of the country to 13.9 percent, the report points out that agriculture supports 52 percent of the country's working population and is hence the backbone of development and is key to food security and inclusive growth. The report, placed in the Rajya Sabha today, calls for wide-ranging reforms in agriculture sector to enable it to meet the growing demands and meet the challenges posed by various human and environmental factors. The report highlights some of the major steps taken by the government in recent years for improving crop production and productivity. The report specially highlights the contribution made by the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) towards increasing public investment in agriculture and allied sectors as also the contributions of National Food Security Mission (NFSM) and the National Horticulture Mission (NHM) as path breaking interventions which have helped in achieving record production of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables and spices during the last two years. The report says a Green Revolution is being brought about in Eastern India through improvements in cropping system, mainly rice, wheat, maize and pulses through promotion of innovative production technologies and agronomical practices suitable for different agro-climatic sub regions. The report emphasizes the need to bridge the yield gap in low productivity regions by technology, inputs and other interventions. “Raising productivity also assumes significance in view of increasing demand for land for industrialization, urbanization, housing and infrastructure,” it points out. The report takes note of the structural changes in the composition of Indian agriculture, leading to diversification into horticulture, livestock and fisheries since the 1990s. Greater attention is now being given to production of high-value horticultural crop as also animal husbandry, the report says. Given the rising share of high-value commodities in the total value of agricultural output and their growth potential, this segment is expected to drive agricultural growth in the years to come, it says. Bringing in reforms to streamline domestic markets and expanding the infrastructure and institutions to connect local markets with national and global markets, will go a long way in improving India's competitiveness and the benefits from trade liberalization. Higher investment in basic infrastructure like roads, canal waters, watersheds, check dams, etc will attract private investment in other areas of the supply chain, it points out. The report sees increased role for the private sector in the Green Revolution drive as it is better equipped to respond faster to the incentive structures. “Hence, along with bringing in greater public investment in agriculture, there is a need for bringing in reforms in the incentive structure in agriculture.” In order to absorb the surplus labor in agriculture, the report suggests alternative employment generation in the non-farm and manufacturing sectors, especially in agro based rural industries, which have area specific comparative advantage in terms of resources endowment and development possibilities. This would, in turn, require suitable skill development of the people so as to gainfully employ them in non- farm activities. This would make agriculture viable in a sustainable manner, the report adds. The report cautions that water scarcity will intensify in future with increase in population and demand for food, and the current water use practices cannot be sustained over the long run. The report also focuses on the problems of imbalanced use of fertilizers, deteriorating soil health and the threats posed by climate change and highlights the recent measures initiated to tackle these issues. On farm credit, the report says that while the overall credit to agriculture has been growing phenomenally during the last few years, and the interest rates for farmers have also been reduced to 7 percent (and four percent after taking into account the three percent interest subvention for timely repayment of crop loans), the challenge of reaching out to the bottom 40 percent with no access to credit remains. The report calls for wide-ranging reforms in agricultural marketing and removal of market imperfections and restrictions on the movement of agricultural commodities. Also, small farms have still no links with large-scale processors and retailers. In order to overcome these shortcomings, the government is promoting public private partnerships (PPP) in infrastructure development through ‘viability gap funding' support, the report says. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/Ouu2s Tags: Farming, Government, India, Tech Section: Business, Environment, Going Green, South Asia
