A NOTE ON AGRICULTURE; CONCERNS,OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

Abstract

Agriculture is the heart of rural economy for India. This sector provides gainful employment as well as raw materials for a large number of industries in the country. Off late, and economic reforms the trade liberalization, considerable changes have been noticed in this sector. Indian planners and policy makers do realize how critically important it is to have more that 4% growth in agriculture to give any meaning to ‘inclusive growth’. It is also recognized that major investments would be needed both by public and private sectors to achieve this end. Investments, institutions and incentives will be critical for bringing in and scaling up innovations in the agricultural sector. Technology has played an important role in improving productivity. Agriculture production can only be increased by reducing prevailing knowledge deficit of latest agricultural technologies with the farmers. Knowledge deficit can be improved by strengthening human resource- capacity building and rapid transfer of the farm technology.