Question

write detailed accounts on challenges for the agriculture sector in india

Answer 1

Modern agriculture aims at producing the maximum amount of food in the minimum amount of time, space and energy so that our increasing population may  have ample food and other agricultural products.The agricultural production of the industrialized nations relies so heavily on non-renewable resources, that there is a clear danger of the oil and coal resources of the earth running out, bringing mankind to ruin. If we modernized agriculture to the same level in the west, we could produce all we need, with perhaps the tenth of the manpower engaged in agriculture. The question is, what would the rest do?Would they be unemployed, if so how will they buy what agriculture would produce?Yes, low input agriculture of the developing countries keeps nations precariously at the subsistence level, with development retarded , and malnutrition rampant, but moving to the extreme of copying the industrialized countries could also be disastrous.Some enthusiasts contend that we should curtail the use of chemical fertilizers. But actually in our country the consumption of chemical fertilizers is one of the lowest in the world, a fraction of what it is in Japan or Europe. Excessive use of fertilizers leads to a good deal of it being washed away by irrigation or rain water, which then pollutes rivers and ponds.As in the case of fertilizers, the average consumption of pesticides in our country is so small that there does not exist a situation similar to that prevailing in developed countries. The high-yielding varieties recently introduced put up such a luxuriant growth that pests are attracted to them as we are attracted to tasty food. Plant-protection chemicals are safe when used strictly according according to scientific recommendation. Indiscriminate and excessive use may, however, leave harmful residues, which may again pollute the environment particularly our water resources.Research on biological control of pests is urgently needed.The other dilemma is that such agriculture, with chemical inputs and strict regimes for watering of crops, can be managed much better by farmers with large fields.Much of the land in our country belongs to small holders who cannot benefit from the recent developments in equal measure.Hence, this agriculture has, among st other things previously mentioned led to rich in rural ares becoming richer, and poor becoming relatively poor.There is also a view that there was no alternative to increasing of total agricultural production. And that the modern technology is neutral to the scale of farming, provided proper practices are adopted by the small farmers too.This seems to be a rather difficult thing in practice, with the prevailing poverty and ignorance among the poor.In a vast country like ours, a 10% decrease in population creates a scare of starvation deaths, and a similar increase in output brings in its wake problems of storage, grain routing, glut in the market and distress selling by farmers. The problems are more acute in the production of perishable commodities like vegetables, fruits, eggs , fish, milk and other products.Once again if processing and packaging can be done with our own technology developed by our research institutions, it would be excellent. Furthermore, if some of the food stuffs processed by foreign companies are shared, we would deprive our own people of the much needed food stuffs like dried vegetables, fruit pulps and juices and fish protein etc. Prices in the Indian market of these products would also go up.

Answer 2

Small land holdings and its further division among family members in big challenge for agriculture sector.

A large population is dependent on agricultural sector fir sustenance

Mostly people use traditional methods of farming which is responsible for low produy

There is lack of proper governmental support.

Low level of credit flow in rural areas is also a big problem

The irrigation facilities need to be increaed to bromo re and more area under cultivation.

Proper supply of seeds and fertilizers is needed.

Export policy and research can make agriculture sector a flourishing sector. and its contribution in GDP can increase.