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AGRICULTURE
INTRODUCTION-:
In India as it is seen that agriculture is the most important sector for
the Indian economy. It is seen that the means of life and fooding of
two third majority of India is vested on the hands of the agriculture
sector. The agriculture sector also has its influence in the Indian
economy and its GDP status. Almost half of the Indias area is taken
under the agriculture sector which indicates that agriculture is the
basic means of economy for a country like India. It is seen that the
declination of the shares of agriculture sector in the GDP. But still
agriculture can be regarded as the main source of economy for the
country and also it gives a huge boost to the GDP of the country.
Agriculture also helps us enormously in the socio economic
development of the country.
After independence India has really done
well in the field of agriculture and it is a good sign for the country. The
gradual growth in the field of agriculture has helped the Indian
economy gain momentum. As the Indian population is majorly
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dependent on the agriculture of the country, it has a huge amount of
inputs as per required by the population of the country. It is also
found that the present scenario demands more production and India
is self sufficient enough to provide sufficient amount of grains
required for the sustainability of the nation. Political stability of the
country is the most important term which should be taken up by the
country and its government policies.
Green Revolution is another very good implementation that needs to
be taken up by the country which will help in the increase of the
economy of the country. The Green Revolution basically means to
add some extra areas which were not utilized are to be used for
agriculture improvement and also to be used for the irrigation
facilities. Usages of new techniques are also the basis of the Green
Revolution in India. This is the basic thing that needs to be done at
this present moment of time. This has now been seen in the modern
agricultural sector and it is also found that the production of wheat
and rice has increased because of this revolution and reform. For this
basic reason the Indian government introduced it in 13 states to
increase the production. Hence it can be said that there is a certain
need to evolve the second Green Revolution in India.
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PESTLE ANALYSIS
The pestle analysis is a tool to identify the various needs and wants
of the various issues of any of the sectors that we are dealing with.
The basic ideology of the analysis is to find out the actual situation of
the prescribed sector and hence understand what steps needs to be
taken to eradicate any sort of problems that arises in the analysis.
We get to find a proper view of the sectors and hence follow certain
steps in developing the sector.
The pestle analysis is a combination of six basic
components which tend to have an effect on the various sectors of
the country. The letter P stands for political, where it shows us the
view points of the political influences which shows its effect on the
sector. The political environment is a very important aspect that has a
toll on the sector. The next letter E stands for economic, which is
fundamental for the development of any sector. More the strength of
economy of the country the better it is for the development of the
sectors. Then the letter which comes is S and it stands for social.
This show the social effect which takes place on the sectors and
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shows its outcome on the social warfare. Then the next letter is T
which stands for technological. Here the uses of new and innovative
technologies are taken into the forefront. The new technologies which
have come up have indeed helped in improving the different sectors
of the country. The next letter is L which stands for legal. Here it
shows us the legal aspects of the country and the sectors which
needs to be taken care of and hence should be within the jurisdictions
of the law of the country. The last but not the least comes the letter
E which stands for ecological which is very much important in the
modern day world as the environment is degrading rapidly and hence
we need to keep a check on it. So this helps us to find out the
remedies of the situation and make implementations.
The various aspects are very much important and hence we will have
a closer look on the issues and find solutions for the same and in
return develop the country. This analysis will indeed give us the
necessary information which is required to find out the basic
necessities to be implemented in the Indian agriculture. This will also
show us the pathway which we need to adopt in order to gain a
momentum in the agriculture sector.
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POLITICAL EFFECTS:-
The political environment has always been lagging
behind in each and every particular ground which we look into. The
political scenario has always been a sector whereby the country has
substantially lost its glamorous days. If the political infrastructure of
the country is introduced and implemented in a proper manner then
the country will do wonders in terms of economy and all other sectors
of the country. The political scenario has greatly influenced the
agriculture sector as the development of this sector has been due to
the efforts put the government officials. The political infrastructure
needs to implement them in the agriculture sector heavily as it is the
main source of income for the country. As it is already mentioned that
majority of the Indian population largely vests on the agriculture as
their main source of income. So, the Government has also taken
certain steps in implementing various new procedures in order to
develop the agricultural sector.
The new implementation which has to be made
is the Green Revolution, which has really made a great appearance
in the modernistic world. It is seen that the revolution has indeed
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proved successful in attaining good amount of productivity in the
yester years that have gone by. Hence it can be said that the Green
Revolution should be taken up again in order to gain improvement in
the field of agriculture. Green Revolution basically means to work on
more areas of land which are not utilized by the agriculture but are
simply kept as a piece of land. The land will be used for various
irrigation facilities and for the fertility of the land. This will indeed
increase the production to a great extent. Various pesticides and
other fertilizers will be used to nourish the land and ensure good
productivity.
Government has taken certain steps in implementing the
issue in as many as 13 states but not to a full-fledged level as a result
of which the yield of productivity has not changed significantly. Hence
this shows that the productivity was not as great but still there was
some amount of increase in the productivity which needs to be seen
after by the Government. This small but necessary step will indeed
yield good results for the country for the future days coming by.
Hence Government is taking steps adequately to enhance the
productivity of the country. So second Green Revolution is on the
cards. This is the political effect on agriculture.
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The government policies should also be made in such
a manner that so that adequate amount of money is incorporated for
the agriculture sector. This needs to be done as monetary benefit is
required to develop any sector in the country. The ideas and
implementations of the government will determine the future of the
country. This is the political effect on the field of agriculture sector.
ECONOMIC EFFECTS:-
India isa developing country and it is seen by the
reports that India is one of the nations whose economy is increasing
rapidly and in the developing stage. India is also having a focus on
the development of the country by developing its economy. India falls
under the category of the BRIC nations which are rapidly increasing
their economy at the world stage.
Today almost all the countries are looking
forward to increase their economic development of the country.
Various policies and ideas have been implemented to gain the
economic development of the country. The new and the innovated
methods which have recently been adopted is that of the Special
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Economic Zones. This has been taken up by many of the countries
including India for the betterment of the countrys social and
economic development.
The special economic zone is a geographical region
which has its own laws and it is seen that that the laws implemented
for the special economic zone is much more lenient in comparison to
the countrys economic laws. In this zone basically the foreign direct
investment is given due freedom as the custom duties are free and
hence they are able to invest their money in our country without
paying much taxes. The main goal and objective of the introduction of
the special economic zone is the promotion of economic growth by
attracting the foreign investments to come with the cancellation of
huge amount of taxes that were imposed on them.
The policy of the special economic zone was
taken by India in April, 2009. Previously the policy of Export
Processing Zone was inherent but special economic zone has
become the new model for the country. It is a provision made
whereby the export processing zones would be converted into special
economic zones. At the present moment of time there are a total of
462 formal special economic zones in India. But the most important
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thing which should be kept in mind is that the land that will be taken
for the development of the special economic zone should not be an
agriculture based land as this will not increase the social and
economic condition of the country but will instead be wastage of the
fertile land.
Hence this is an important factor that needs to be looked
upon as the fertility of the land is very precious for the country as the
productivity of the agriculture depends on it. So the Government is
looking into matter very carefully so that the special economic zones
are not placed in the fertile lands. This is a very good sign for the
country. This gives us an indication that the Government is taking
adequate steps in order to develop the countrys social and economic
sector of the country.
This certainly will yield us a lot of profit in the coming
period as the foreign investments will be more in the part of the
agriculture sector. So the same process should be continued for the
future days as well in order to gain the development in the country
which has been lagging behind by a few steps. This is the economic
effect on the agriculture sector.
SOCIAL EFFECTS: -
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Social effects are another important aspect that needs to be looked
upon very carefully. Agriculture sector needs to be implemented
keeping into consideration the various social changes that have been
happening over a period of time.
TECHNOLOGICAL EFFECTS:-
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The new technologies which have been coming up
in the modern world have really made lot of advancement in each and
every field. This has indeed helped the sectors for developing new
techniques and implementing them in their own field. Same is the
case with agriculture sector as well. The agriculture sector has also
come a long way in terms of its usage of new technologies and
implementations available to the country as a result of which the
production of agriculture has increased to a significant level.
The new technologies which have come now
are the ones which are going to yield maximum profit and hence it
has become very essential to make the farmers and the agriculturists
aware about it. The recent technology which has come into the fore is
that of the genetically modified technology popularly known as the
GM technology. As we have already seen that the main challenge for
the Indias agriculture sector is the improvement in yield of crops.
This problem has basically come into the fore because of the
population increase and the less availability of water reserves for the
agriculture purpose. Hence the GM technology is taken into account
for the rapid increase in the production of the agriculture sector of the
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country and because of this reason the BT cotton hybrid was given
approval for the cultivation in India.
The importances of mobile phones have also
brought a significant change in all the sectors of the country. It has
been majorly seen that the farmers are not aware of the daily reports
that have been happening in the country. This was a major drawback
for the farmers as they remained unknown of the various factors like
that of weather, market prices and all such factors.
Vodafone hence introduced two important
services targeted at the customers known as the IFFCO Kisan
Sanchar Limited and Reuters Market Light. In this program the
Vodafone Company were providing 5 daily messages to the farmers
free of cost so that they could be aware of the happenings in the
market and in the country as well. This was a very good
implementation made which was beneficial for the farmers. They
were also given a helpline number for their queries. This gives us an
idea that the company is doing its responsibilities in terms of
corporate governance which is a big achievement.
LEGAL EFFECTS:-
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The legal effects of the country are also needed
to be taken care of by the Government. There is a certain need
that the government should take immediate steps to reform the
le4gal aspects of the country. This indeed takes a lot to do but
still the aspects need to be sought out irrespective of the
problem.
Education is major legal reform that needs to be taken up
by the Government and since this is an aspect which has a
higher impact on the future of the society. The Government
needs to take adequate steps to eradicate the problem of
uneducated people of the country. It is not a matter which
should be kept without a notice on the minds of the
Government. The workers and the agriculturists also need to be
educated in order to understand the basic necessities of the
agriculture sector and its new implemented technologies which
have come up. Without proper education the agriculturists
would not be able to utilize the resources properly. So
Government should legalize the aspect of education in order to
improve the agriculture sector.
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The other factor which comes into view is the
part of micro financing which has really taken a toll in the
modern era. The project has been initiated in Bangladesh by
the so called Grameen Bank which has been very much
successful in that country. The same policy should be applied in
India where poor people should be given small loans so that
they can work on it and in the interim put a lower rate of
interest. This factor should indeed be legalized by the
Government so that the poor farmers get some amount of
benefit from the loans imparted to them. The private banks
should be given due permission to allow them to sanction loans
for the poor agriculturists.
Hence the present scenario demands the
government to take adequate actions and legalize the various
important factors for the development of the agriculture sector which
can be determined by the result in the terms of productivity. These
are the legal effects on agriculture.
ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS:-
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In the modern day world the most important aspect
that needs to be taken care of is the ecology and the environment.
The degrading environmental condition has led to the various
problems of health and other related problems. So this becomes the
prime responsibility to look after the environment and take optimum
care.
Pollution in the country is the main aspect which has to be taken
care of. The degrading pollution has indeed taken its toll in the
environment and it can be measured by the increase in diseases in
the increasing population. As it is seen that the land and water has
also been detoriated because of the increasing pollution. The human
beings are basically the main means of polluting the environment.
The industrialists have built up big industries and the wastages are all
being set up in the ponds, and water lakes which are used by the
agriculture farms as a result of which the productivity of the
agriculture sector is degrading and hence decreasing the amount
required for the population to consume. This indeed is a very big
problem which needs to be taken care by the Government. The
Government has indeed taken steps to eradicate the problem by
putting many barriers like the carbon credit whereby the industries
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need to put a check on the carbon emission which will decrease the
pollution because of the industries.
The Green Revolution will also help in
decreasing the pollution of the country. This is also an indication that
the Government should take initiatives in bringing about the second
green revolution. This in turn will help us in maintaining a good
productivity from the agriculture sector which is very much essential
for the increasing rate in population of the country.
As the population is increasing, the agriculture
production should also pick up in order to maintain the balance. The
Government should stop the usage of plastic bags in the country
which is a non degradable product and it also decreases the fertility
of the soil. The Government has taken certain steps but it is not taken
in a proper manner as a result of which the plastic bags are still being
used continuously which is not helping the issue of environment.
These are the various ecological issues which are having an effect on
the agriculture sector.
CONCLUSION:-
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For the agriculture sector to enhance, the Government
should take adequate steps to enhance the productivity and the
efficiency of the products. There are various steps that need to be
taken in order to increase the level of agriculture. The steps may
include the doubling of the rate of growth of the irrigated area.
Rain water harvesting is another important
aspect which can be taken up by the Government. Education is
another important aspect which will help the agriculturists to enhance
the productivity and this will help them in utilizing the resources
appropriately. It is time that we understand the need of taking the
matter of agriculture sector into consideration so that the need which
is developing day by day does not hinder.
The facilities should be provided properly
by the Government and there are other policies which can be taken
up are by relaxing the taxes imposed on them. And the farmers
should be given proper hospitalities as they are the key persons for
the country to run on in a proper manner.
This is the PESTLE ANALYSIS of the agriculture sector.
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Doubling the rate of growth of irrigated area;
Reclaiming degraded land and focusing on soil quality;
Improving water management, rain water harvesting and watershed
development;
Bridging the knowledge gap through effective extension services;
Diversifying into high value outputs, fruits, vegetables, flowers,
herbs and spices, medicinal plants, bamboo, bio-diesel, but with
adequate measures to ensure food security;
Providing easy access to credit at affordable rates.
PROBLEMS OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE-:
Poor productivity.
Falling water levels.
Expensive credit.
A distorted market.
Many intermediaries who increase cost but do not add much value.
Laws that stifle private investment.
Controlled prices.
Poor infrastructure.
Produce that does not meet international standards.
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STEPS TO REMOVE AGRICULTURE PROBLEMS
Give States an incentive to amend the APMC act and abolish mandi
taxes. This would allow competitive markets to develop; farmers and
processors will both gain.
Support the organized private sector in increasing its spending on
extension and technology transfer. This would give farmers the knowledge
of what to grow, and how to grow so that stringent quality norms are met.
Lower the total tax burden on processed foods so that the sector picks
up, and consequently demand for farm produce rises.
Target foreign buyers of high-value ethnic Indian foods, as opposed to
commodity exports-starting with the large NRI population of 20 million,
which can be a huge market.
private partnership that allows private investors to invest in agriculture
infrastructure in partnership with banks and financial institutions.
To hold Campus Seminar for Agri-graduates for incubation and
Lack of education and awareness about opportunities.
Lack of Market Knowledge and Marketing skills.
Lack of professionalism and small land holding.
Absence of innovative financing for agriculture.
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promotion of effective agriculture techniques.
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Introduction:::::::::::::::To carry improved technologies to farmers and to
replicate the success achieved in the production of wheat and rice a National
Pulse Development Programme, covering 13 states, was launched in 1986.
Similarly, a Technology Mission on Oilseeds was launched in 1986 to increase
production of oilseeds in the country and attain self-sufficiency. Pulses were
brought under the Technology Mission in 1990. After the setting up of the
Technology Mission, there has been consistent improvement in the production of
oilseeds. A new seeds policy has been adopted to provide access to high-quality
seeds and plant material for vegetables, fruit, flowers, oilseeds and pulses,
without in any way compromising quarantine conditions. To give fillip to the
agriculture and make it more profitable, Ministry of Food Processing Industries
was set up in July 1988. Government has also taken initiatives to encourage
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private sector investment in the food processing industry.
There is an urgent need for second green revolution in Indian agriculture and
taking it to a higher trajectory of 4 per cent annual growth.
Various steps need to be taken to achieve this objective:
STEPS-:
Doubling the rate of growth of irrigated area;
Reclaiming degraded land and focusing on soil quality;
Improving water management, rain water harvesting and watershed
development;
Bridging the knowledge gap through effective extension services;
Diversifying into high value outputs, fruits, vegetables, flowers,
herbs and spices, medicinal plants, bamboo, bio-diesel, but with
adequate measures to ensure food security;
Providing easy access to credit at affordable rates.
PROBLEMS OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE-:
Poor productivity.
Falling water levels.
Expensive credit.
A distorted market.
Many intermediaries who increase cost but do not add much value.
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Laws that stifle private investment.
Controlled prices.
Poor infrastructure.
Produce that does not meet international standards.
STEPS TO REMOVE AGRICULTURE PROBLEMS
Give States an incentive to amend the APMC act and abolish mandi
taxes. This would allow competitive markets to develop; farmers and
processors will both gain.
Support the organized private sector in increasing its spending on
extension and technology transfer. This would give farmers the knowledge
of what to grow, and how to grow so that stringent quality norms are met.
Lower the total tax burden on processed foods so that the sector picks
up, and consequently demand for farm produce rises.
Lack of education and awareness about opportunities.
Lack of Market Knowledge and Marketing skills.
Lack of professionalism and small land holding.
Absence of innovative financing for agriculture.
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Target foreign buyers of high-value ethnic Indian foods, as opposed to
commodity exports-starting with the large NRI population of 20 million,
which can be a huge market.
private partnership that allows private investors to invest in agriculture
infrastructure in partnership with banks and financial institutions.
To hold Campus Seminar for Agri-graduates for incubation and
promotion of effective agriculture techniques.
RECESSIONS TOLL ON INDIAN AGRICULTURE
There are predictions that the processed food sector wont grow as much as
hoped for and the exports from for the processed foods and also for other food
grains as bad as one could expect for the rest of the Indian goods and services.
Elections apart, there is the general world conditions.
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The developed countries, the G-7 are more severely impacted. The industrialized
economies, the IMF notes, have been severely affected since the time of the
world war 11.The US economy is the hardest hit and so too others.
As for India we come in the category of the G-20 and it is noted that for these
countries, including India, the IMF notes the contraction of the world economy
and output is likely to be between 0.5% and 1%.For the USA and the rest of the
G-7, the contraction of the economy would be between 3.0 to 3.5 %, the IMF
says.
So, the countries in the developing world are relatively better placed. This is good
news, for us.
But for the agriculture sector, it is now widely reported and editorials are written
in the major business dailies. They all say there is a mix of many policies, more
in the nature of the protectionist economies. There is a ban virtually on all
foograins exports, rice and wheat are banned. There is also in the reverse a near
zero duty import tariff for raw sugar. The sugar industry is almost up in protest
and the area under sugarcane can be further reduced owing to this free imports
of raw sugar.But then, there is a need to keep a tight control over the domestic
prices on all essential commodities of common consumption. Sugar is a critical
daily item of consumption for the vast population.So, for the present even the
futures trading in agricultural commodities are controlled to avoid further
speculation in these commodities and hence the changes that further rise in food
prices can be controlled. This is what is happening.
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So, what is good for the developed countries, stimulus packages to stimulate
spending and create confidence, in countries like India there is need to maintain
a stable price regime first for the food economy, so that the common mans
perception of the economic recession is kept far from one of gloom and fall in
confidence in the government?
Fortunately, the elections and the parties and even the politicians, more out of
narrow selfishness rather than the concern for the common man economic
recession and the consequences, fall in real estate or further import of edible oils
and pulses or raw sugar or any other item of common mans needs are freely
resorted to even if it means further government spending and further incurring of
deficits and more delayed time in the economic recovery.
There is fear that very soon; if not already there is deflation that is further decline
in consumer spending.
The time of economic recession is one when great leadership and confidence-
building measures are called for. In India we have a government and a Prime
Minister who is supposed to be a great economist; we dont find any public
enlightenment. There is, if any, total silence and no other competent leaders,
either from the ruling combines or from the Opposition ranks, including from the
otherwise vocal Communists, there is no bother about how the economy over all
is doing or not doping. So, what we, the public, have to perceive is the small
sings, here and there and we have to feel confident from the small mercies from
the private sector. Indias great key advantages is its human resources and it is
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here we need some imaginative initiatives. The government must better consult
the IT leaders in drawing up polices to enhance the competitive advantages of
this sector. So, the current economic recession, while it causes much concern in
such sectors like the export front, there is much effort is needed to manage the
economy to steer it out of the present crisis.
Social Effects: -
Social effects are another important aspect that needs to be looked upon very
carefully. Agriculture sector needs to be implemented keeping into consideration
the various social changes that have been happening over a period of time.
India has been one of the pioneer countries in the area of development planning.
It has gone through the five-decade of planning and has almost completed the
first nine five-year plans and a few annual plans in between and the tenth plan is
on the anvil. The experience of development planning in India can best be judged
initially in terms of outlays and targets and then in terms of the resulting growth-
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wise performance, and finally in terms of the overtime changes that have taken
place in certain crucial economic and social indicators that ultimately affect the
quality of life of majority of the people. The final performance of the economy is,
therefore, linked both with economic growth and development.
In order to assess the countrys performance and progress towards economic
development, we must supplement, if not supplant, the growth rate of GNP by
other more microeconomic measures. It is not enough to measure progress
merely in terms of GNP, it is imperative to look at the structural changes too by
assessing the distributional effects of economic growth in the economy on the
basis of behaviour pattern, as shown by certain crucial economic and social
indicators that effect a larger section of the society and through which the
benefits of growth are supposed to get distributed amongst the majority of the
people. There are many such indicators, and there are a few specific bases (like
the aspirations of the people) to underline such indicators, but the following
indicators seem to be more important:
Agricultural Production
Food grain Production
Industrial Production
Electricity Generation
Wholesale Prices
Consumer Prices
Imports
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Exports
Per Capital Availability of certain important articles of consumption
Population: Birth Rate, Death Rate, life Expectancy at Birth
Education: Literacy rate
Health and family Welfare
The present Paper briefly looks just at the decade-wise and year-wise (up to
1996-97) performance of agricultural production and also the profile of food grain
production and beyond that it also looks at the plight of the poor including the
marginal farmers (the poorest of the poor) in terms of one of the emerging
dimensions of poverty in recent times, described by the hypothesis of lower-
income and higher-prices, and its fall outs on various economic and social
policies of the government. .
Agricultural production includes both food grains (essentially, rice and wheat) and
non-food grains (essentially, oilseeds, and sugarcane), the former contributing
approximately two-thirds of the total agricultural production. On the basis of the
time series data, as computed from Economic Surveys of the Economic Division
of the Ministry of Finance for the years 1987-88 and 1997-98, it is seen that
agricultural production shows an upward trend throughout both in terms of
decades and individual years. As compared to 1950-51, the rise has been 221
per cent by the end of the fourth decade (1990-91), and about 280 per cent by
the year 1996-97. However, the percentage changes over the previous periods
vary. The highest percentage of 48.9 occurred by the end of the first decade and
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then it fell down to 24.9 by the end of the second decade and further fell down to
18.9 by the end of the third decade but by the end of the fourth decade it
improved and touched a high of 45.3.
In fact, the years 1982-83, 1984-85, and 1986-87 were the worst years (due to
poor monsoons and the resulting drought conditions) during the decade of
eighties in terms of overall agricultural production. The decade of nineties also
does not show much improvement as compared to the earlier decades. Talking
in terms of years within the decade of nineties, the year 1991-92 was the worst
when the production declined by 2 per cent over the previous year. Another bad
year was 1995-96 when the percentage change was again negative. In terms of
percentage changes the best year was 1996-97 when it touched a high of 9.3 pc.
It was 2.6 pc in 2007-08 from 3.8 pc in 2006-07. The overall scenario is that as
compared to earlier years, agricultural production has declined. This is not a
healthy sign for the economy.
Food Grain production is a part of agricultural production, it shows the same
upward rising trend throughout as the agricultural production, both in terms of
decades and individual years. It is seen that as compared to 1950-51, the rise
here has been consistently more than that of the agricultural production. The
same is true of percentage changes. The period after 1966 (ie, after the Third
Plan) witnessed a substantial increase in food grain production, basically
because of the New Agricultural Strategy that focused on modern inputs
(especially fertilizers, improved seeds, credit, marketing etc.) for intensively
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increasing food crop production of wheat, rice, jowar, bajra, and maize in
selected regions.
This strategy brought about a revolution in agriculture that is also termed as
Green Revolution. It is basically because of this strategy that food grain
production increased substantially after the Third plan. Within the decade of 90s,
the trend was, however, reverted, when in 1991-92 and then in 1995-96, food
grain production declined respectively by 4.5 per cent and 5.8 per cent over the
previousyears.
According the latest data, the countrys food grain production in the crop year
ending June 30 this year, is now expected to be around 229.85 million tonne, up
0.9 per cent from an earlier estimate announced in February, largely due to
record increase in rice harvest. The government had set a target to produce 233
milliontons..
In recent months, the delay in the arrival of monsoon and expected rainfall has
cast its shadow over the Kharif production in Uttar Pradesh. It is estimated that
the majority of the farmers (around 91 per cent) are marginal and they will be in
much trouble. It is also estimated that only 70 per cent of the agriculture area has
irrigational facilities, while the remaining 30 per cent of the area depends only on
rainfall. The Agriculture Department has set a target of 179 lakh metric tonnes
grain production whereas during 2008-09, the Kharif production was 160 lakh
metrictons.
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This brief review of agricultural production underlines the fact that agricultural
performance, apart from other factors, is still, to a large extent, controlled by the
vagaries of nature, though human effort, supported by state policies, has quite
often played a positive role in boosting agricultural production. Although India is
one of the largest food producers in the world and it has a potential to produce
even more, there is a need to focus on post harvest losses which amount to
about 65 million tonnes every year and which is more than the total consumption
in the UK. The godowns of the Food Corporation of India all over are always over
packed with food grains, which instead of reaching the poor, eventually get
wasted. There is, thus, a need of evolving better post harvest technologies and
food processing of food items to avoid such losses to a great extent.
Technological Effects:-The new technologies have helped in the
agriculture sector and new implementations have gradually increased the
production of agriculture. Establishing institutes at provincial and federal level is
an urgent need for making the farmers aware about genetically modified (GM)
technology. Due to insufficient biotechnology utilization there was a large decline
in Indias agricultural production,Sustainability and improvement in the crops yield
are the major challenges for Indias agriculture sector, in order to deal with the
problems like population increase and water scarcity.
Utilization of GM technology is the reason for rapid progress of worldwide
agriculture sector. In the year 2003, BT cotton hybrid was approved for
commercial cultivation in India.
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The impacts of mobile phones have also taken the agriculture sector into a
good and dynamic direction. The Impact of Mobile Phones," where I outline
the findings of Vodaphone's Policy Paper on the benefits mobile phones have in
India. Over the past decade, India has made significant progress in developing a
sophisticated information and communications technology sector. However,
agriculture remains a vital sector in India's economy "where it contributes close
to 20% of GDP and where 60% of the population depends on agriculture either
directly or indirectly." The purpose of this entry is discuss the report's
investigation into the impact of mobiles on agricultural productivity. Although
the focus is on India, the conclusions are applicable to any nation where
agriculture has a significant role in providing income for its citizens.
Mobile phones are an essential tool in accessing valuable information in three
areas including know-how (crop choice and seed variety), context (weather,
plant protection, cultivation best practices), and market information (market
prices, market demand, and logistics). "There are an estimated 127.3 million
'cultivators' in India. The majority of them are farmers subsisting on small plots
of land less than 5 acres in size....A national survey of farmers found that only
40% of farmer households accessed information about modern agricultural
techniques and inputs."
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Farmers require access to a wide-range of accurate information. The report
explains, "Of this range of information requirements, we found that small
farmers prioritized weather, plant protection (disease/pest remediation), seed
information and market prices as the most important. In Uttar Pradesh and
Rajasthan, close to 90% of farmers reported seed information as the highest
priority while over 70% cited market prices as the most important category."
There are a few mobile-enabled information services available to farmers in
India. The Vodaphone report evaluated two mobile services targeting farmers,
IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL) and Reuters Market Light (RML). IKSL
delivers five free voice messages daily with weather information, crop/animal
husbandry advisory, market prices, fertiliser availability, electricity timings,
and government schemes. A helpline is available at Rs. 1/minute.
RML delivers four daily SMS-text messages containing weather information,
crop-advisory, market price (2 crops and 3 markets of choice), and news
(commodity specific and general - occasionally includes market demand
estimates). There are a few subscription options: Rs. 175 for a three month
package, Rs. 350 for six months, and Rs. 650 for one year.
With respect to the impact mobile phones have on India's agriculture sector,
the report found the following conclusions:
Customization and frequent updating add substantial value. Generic
information triggers dissatisfaction and reduces the frequency with
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which farmers access the service. The most frequent criticism we heard
was that information was old and routine.
Secondly, where literacy concerns are not paramount, text messaging
offers significant advantages over voice-based delivery in terms of
convenience and content flexibility.
Finally, information should be in the local language and any platform
should be intuitive for subscribers to understand. Most of the farmers we
interviewed were prepared to pay for information services as long as
they felt that they would get the information they wanted relevant,
timely and reliable.
Legal Effects:-
The legal aspects also account for the consideration in the various
sectors of the country. The need of the hour is to have a check on the
various needs of the sectors and renew them as per the need. The
agriculture has brought itself in the sector of globalization and
liberalization which is discussed briefly.
Many economists now concede that the relationship between liberalization and
growth are 'uncertain at best'. According to the Center for Economic and Policy
research, which studied impact of liberalization reforms on the developing world,
key economic and social indicators such as increases in life expectancy, infant
and child mortality, education and literacy levels slowed down in the 20 years
-
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between 1980 and 2000 when liberalization policies were implemented,
compared to the 20 years leading to 1980. (The damage done, 2005) This
defeats the economic rationalist argument of free trade eliminating poverty, since
the 20 years leading up to 1980 witnessed high protectionist policies and trade
barriers. Following the suicides in 2000, the World Bank and Britain's DFID
abandoned power reforms in Andhra Pradesh four years before schedule. It
admitted that it had 'substantially underestimated' the 'complexity of the process'
and that there must be 'increased consultation with the farmers to get their
acceptance' of any further reform.
The Andhra Pradesh government sponsored report by the Commission of
Farmer's Welfare squarely laid the blame for its agrarian crisis on the state and
central government's policies: "While the causes of this crisis are complex and
manifold, they are they are dominantly related to public policy. The economic
strategy of the past decade at both central government and state government
levels has systematically reduced the protection afforded to farmers and exposed
them to market volatility and private profiteering without adequate regulation; has
reduced critical forms of public expenditure; has destroyed important public
institutions, and has not adequately generated other non-agricultural economic
activities." A report on suicides in Kerala similarly held the liberalization policies
of the government responsible. (Mohankumar & Sharma, 2006).
It is clear that the liberalization policies adopted by the government of India
played a dominant role in the agrarian crisis that is now being played out.
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However, this is not to say that privatization, liberalization and globalization are
per say bad, or inherently inimical to an economy. It is the 'one size fits all' brand
of liberalization adopted by the IMF and the World Bank which forces countries to
privatize, liberalize and globalize without exception which has failed. Without
taking into account the state of an economy, and in this case, the state and
nature of the agricultural sector in India, the IMF and the World Bank, with the
cooperation of the Indian government, embarked on mismatched reforms, which
have caused misery and despair among millions of Indian farmers, driving large
numbers of them to suicide. It is also essential to break the link between aid and
liberalization, which caused India in the first place to accept the conditions of the
IMF. Remember that India was on the brink of a financial crisis in 1991 when it
applied for the IMF loan and accepted its conditions-perhaps the course of
economic reform in India would have taken a very different course if there was no
urgent need to borrow from the IMF. The start to this process may have already
occurred: recognizing the failure of its liberalization policies, (and perhaps also
the failure of DFID with AP's power reforms) the Blair government of Britain
announced in 2004 that it will no longer make liberalization and privatization
conditions of aid. In another blow to the neo-liberal lobby, Chandrababu Naidu
suffered the worst ever defeat in the 2004 state elections in his party's history,
with rural AP clearly rejecting his brand of World Bank sponsored liberalization.
The battle, however, has not yet been won. It is essential for the rest of the G8 to
follow Britain's example in order to influence World Bank and IMF policy towards
-
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India to ensure blind liberalization is not pursued, and so that countries like India
can adopt tailor-made reforms to suit their economy
Legal Effects:-
The legal aspects also account for the consideration in the various
sectors of the country. The need of the hour is to have a check on the
various needs of the sectors and renew them as per the need. The
agriculture has brought itself in the sector of globalization and
liberalization which is discussed briefly.
Many economists now concede that the relationship between liberalization and
growth are 'uncertain at best'. According to the Center for Economic and Policy
research, which studied impact of liberalization reforms on the developing world,
key economic and social indicators such as increases in life expectancy, infant
and child mortality, education and literacy levels slowed down in the 20 years
between 1980 and 2000 when liberalization policies were implemented,
compared to the 20 years leading to 1980. (The damage done, 2005) This
defeats the economic rationalist argument of free trade eliminating poverty, since
the 20 years leading up to 1980 witnessed high protectionist policies and trade
barriers. Following the suicides in 2000, the World Bank and Britain's DFID
abandoned power reforms in Andhra Pradesh four years before schedule. It
admitted that it had 'substantially underestimated' the 'complexity of the process'
and that there must be 'increased consultation with the farmers to get their
acceptance' of any further reform.
-
8/9/2019 Samuujal Be Term Paper
41/47
The Andhra Pradesh government sponsored report by the Commission of
Farmer's Welfare squarely laid the blame for its agrarian crisis on the state and
central government's policies: "While the causes of this crisis are complex and
manifold, they are they are dominantly related to public policy. The economic
strategy of the past decade at both central government and state government
levels has systematically reduced the protection afforded to farmers and exposed
them to market volatility and private profiteering without adequate regulation; has
reduced critical forms of public expenditure; has destroyed important public
institutions, and has not adequately generated other non-agricultural economic
activities." A report on suicides in Kerala similarly held the liberalization policies
of the government responsible. (Mohankumar & Sharma, 2006).
It is clear that the liberalization policies adopted by the government of India
played a dominant role in the agrarian crisis that is now being played out.
However, this is not to say that privatization, liberalization and globalization are
per say bad, or inherently inimical to an economy. It is the 'one size fits all' brand
of liberalization adopted by the IMF and the World Bank which forces countries to
privatize, liberalize and globalize without exception which has failed. Without
taking into account the state of an economy, and in this case, the state and
nature of the agricultural sector in India, the IMF and the World Bank, with the
cooperation of the Indian government, embarked on mismatched reforms, which
have caused misery and despair among millions of Indian farmers, driving large
numbers of them to suicide. It is also essential to break the link between aid and
liberalization, which caused India in the first place to accept the conditions of the
-
8/9/2019 Samuujal Be Term Paper
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IMF. Remember that India was on the brink of a financial crisis in 1991 when it
applied for the IMF loan and accepted its conditions-perhaps the course of
economic reform in India would have taken a very different course if there was no
urgent need to borrow from the IMF. The start to this process may have already
occurred: recognizing the failure of its liberalization policies, (and perhaps also
the failure of DFID with AP's power reforms) the Blair government of Britain
announced in 2004 that it will no longer make liberalization and privatization
conditions of aid. In another blow to the neo-liberal lobby, Chandrababu Naidu
suffered the worst ever defeat in the 2004 state elections in his party's history,
with rural AP clearly rejecting his brand of World Bank sponsored liberalization.
The battle, however, has not yet been won. It is essential for the rest of the G8 to
follow Britain's example in order to influence World Bank and IMF policy towards
India to ensure blind liberalization is not pursued, and so that countries like India
can adopt tailor-made reforms to suit their economy
Ecological Effects: -
In the modern day world the most important aspect that needs to be taken care
of is the ecology and the environment. The degrading environmental condition
has led to the various problems of health and other related problems. So this
becomes the prime responsibility to look after the environment and take optimum
care.
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Agriculture does not just have to do with the food that ends up in your grocery
store and that you eventually eat. Pollution of our air, land and water is very
noticeable when it comes from transportation and industry, but the contributions
of agriculture to this problem are also important.
The development of agriculture has been central to the advancement of human
civilization. Its practice forced humans to form settled communities with divisions
of labor and practices different from those of hunting and gathering. Since the
first attempts at agriculture humans have been impacting and controlling the land
and water. Since the the first burning of crops agriculture has had an impact on
the atmosphere. In many ways agriculture is still as central to human survival and
living as it was at the beginning. However, we often tend to take for granted the
dynamics of agriculture practices and how much agriculture practices impact the
quality of our health, land, water, and air.
Two of the most serious and broad ranging environmental issues regarding
agriculture are the greenhouse effect and pollution from fertilizers. Greenhouse
gases and fertilizers are the two most important classes of chemicals released to
the environment because of agriculture. The main focus of this website is to
discuss how and why these chemicals are released and what solutions to
mitigate their negative effects have been developed.
We might call this the Age of the Recognition of Limits. A generation ago, the
energy reserves that fueled the extractive economy were seen to be the primary
limits affecting human progress in every endeavor, including agriculture.
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American scientists and policymakers alike were comfortable in their belief that
these acknowledged finite reserves were large enough to buy the time necessary
to bring the peaceful atom on line. It isn't that renewable resources were ignored.
Americans did worry about the consequences of soil erosion and water pollution,
of course, but there was a nearly full confidence in the technical fix for problems
in the renewable sector of the economy. For agriculture, this meant that terraces,
grass waterways, and proper incentives would take care of erosion. Simple
solutions like indoor plumbing and chlorine in our drinking water would handle the
water problem. And as for this nonsense about pesticides, Rachel Carson was
just a hysterical extremist who was not an expert. The attitude about commercial
fertilizers was that "nitrogen is nitrogen" and "plants don't care whether it comes
from an anhydrous ammonia tank or from the nodule of a legume." And besides
that, "We must feed the world." We had a sense of the heroic urge in us. It was
also an era in which "hard-headed realism" was a favorite expression. But as
author Wendell Berry has said, "A hard-headed realist is usually a person who
uses a lot less information than is available." We have more information now than
a generation ago, and the public is better informed.
The "problem of agriculture" is as old as agriculture itself, and although the core
of the problem has always been soil erosion, new problems have been added.
The high-energy epoch that fueled industry, which in turn made the
industrialization of agriculture possible, simply exacerbated the old problems in
agriculture and added more besides. And so we are dealing with an old subject
with new data and the need for a fresh approach in our search for solutions. We
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will consider these problems one at a time even though they are inextricably
intertwined.
Human diseases have also increased with the widespread use of irrigation,
especially water-transmissible diseases such as malaria and schistosomiasis.
The aquatic snail that transmits schistosomiasis inhabits sluggish waters
common in irrigation projects, and schistosomiasis is now estimated to affect 200
million people in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and South America. The disease
has reached its current levels with the construction of irrigation projects. In the
Gezira project in the Sudan, for example, the incidence of the disease increased
almost 50 percent in a 20-year period after the expansion of the irrigation project
in 1950.
Although irrigation in arid areas cannot be totally abandoned, we need to realize
that water is a limited resource and that the arid ecosystems are fragile.
Upgrading irrigation systems will ameliorate some of the problems outlined
above. Instead of financing massive water-diversion projects, improving irrigation
efficiencies can free water for other demands. Lining canals, reusing water
runoff, and increasing the efficiency of flood and furrow systems can save
enormous quantities of water.
Despite the above chronicle of ecological disasters that attend it, agriculture is
still potentially a renewable enterprise. In a certain sense, nothing is new here. In
every century for 10,000 years on almost every agricultural acre in the world,
ecological capital has slipped seaward from its wilderness-built home or been
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degraded by toxic materials. Still, on a global scale, agriculture is seen as
potentially renewable and therefore as fundamentally different from the industrial
sector of society. It is only in the last 50 years, with the expansion of industry and
the chemicalization of agriculture, that the inherently extractive economy has
acted as though the renewable resources that support agriculture are fair targets
for exploitation in industrial terms. That is what makes the modern era different.
That is what makes the current agricultural economy more brittle than almost any
agricultural economy in history. It is hard for us to see this, perhaps, because it is
hard for us to imagine our energy and aquifer mines lying hollow. It is hard for us
to believe that our well water and air, our pleasingly packaged food, and our
perfect produce could contain invisible poisons. It is hard for us to grasp the
value of genetic diversity or to foresee the consequences of rampant extinctions.
It is hard for us to believe that we may one day come to the end of our magical
ability to produce everhigher-yielding crops. It is hard for us to comprehend the
total loss of our vast tropical forests or to anticipate the climatic changes when
the earth's belly is belted in barren, sterile soils rather than the green, moist
vegetation. It is hard for us to imagine a world where ancient salts sterilize the
land and young chemical pesticides and fertilizers lie below our agricultural
surfaces like demons in quiet prisons of degraded soil.
The outlook is not entirely bleak, for solutions to all these problems lie in lessons
we have learned and can still learn from nature. If we turn our attention away
from the extractive industrial model and begin to focus on nature's models of
productive ecosystems as our guide for agricultural systems, we may yet see
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truly sustainable agriculture emerging. It isn't that nature learns faster than
humans. It is just that she has been at it longer.