write about the present state of agriculture in india ?
Answers
Answer:
The situation is very bad.
About 600 million people depend on agriculture which generates only $ 450 billion of goods. Now compare this with the American situation where only 6 million people depend on agriculture and produce $ 450 billion of goods.
The minimum support price (msp) given primarily to Punjab farmers is a grave threat to ground water. This is because Punjabi farmers are cultivating rice which needs lots of water which is a scarce resource in Punjab. The water necessary for cultivating rice is obtained by depleting the water stored in the ground.
One way out is to introduce free market reforms. We all can see that such reforms are very difficult to implement. In a free market system farmers will produce crops that are needed and will fetch high price and not have to depend on msp. Of course it is not easy to bell the cat.
Indian agriculture faces the problem of fragmentation. The only sure way out is to shift hundreds of millions of people from agriculture to the industry and the services sector. Unfortunately it will take the rest of this century to do that.