What are the concerns for the Indian agriculture in
the globalized economy?
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Answer:
India is considered as one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Agriculture is the mother of any economy, whether it is rich or poor. Much of its influence is on the other sectors of economy - industry and service. India is the second largest in farm output. Hence, India’s economic security continues to be predicated upon the agriculture sector, and the situation is not likely to change in the near future. Even today, the share of agriculture in employment is about 49% of the population, as against around 75% at the time of independence. In the same period, the contribution of agriculture and allied sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has fallen from 61% to 17% in 2015-16. Around 51% of India’s geographical area is already under cultivation as compared to 11% of the world average. China with lesser cultivable land produces double the food grains, i.e. 607 million tons in 2015 -16 as compared with India’s 252 million tons in 2015-16. The present cropping intensity of 136% has registered an increase of only 25% since independence. Further, rain fed dry lands constitute 65% of the total net sown area. There is also an unprecedented degradation of land (107 million ha) and groundwater resource, and also fall in the rate of growth of total factor productivity. This deceleration needs to be arrested and agricultural productivity has to be doubled to meet growing demands of the population by 2050. Natural resource base of agriculture, which provides for sustainable production, is shrinking and degrading, and is adversely affecting production capacity of the ecosystem. However, demand for agriculture is rising rapidly with increase in population and per capita income and growing demand from industry sector. There is, thus, an urgent need to identify severity of problem confronting agriculture sector to restore its vitality and put it back on higher growth trajectory. The problems, however, are surmountable, particularly when new tools of science and technology have started offering tremendous opportunities for application in agriculture. However, the country recorded impressive achievements in agriculture during three decades since the onset of green revolution in late sixties. This enabled the country to overcome widespread hunger and starvation; achieve self-sufficiency in food; reduce poverty and bring economic transformation in millions of rural families. The situation, however, started turning adverse for the sector around mid-nineties, with slowdown in growth rate of output, which then resulted in stagnation or even decline in farmers’ income leading to agrarian distress, which is spreading and turning more and more serious. This Paper attempts to focus attention on Issues, Challenges and Government policies of Indian Agriculture in the context of Globalization.
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