Private sector intervention in Indian Agriculture sector

                The agriculture sector in India alone employs a workforce of  48.9% but only contributes 16% to the GDP of the country.

ISSUES:

1.       Excessive market regulation by the government

2.       Issues with easy loans due to red-tapism

3.       Farmer suicides

4.       The challenges faced by the agriculture sector underlines an urgent need for innovations brought via partnerships between the private and public sectors.

5.       shortcomings and challenges in the storage of food grains

India’s population is expected to grow to 160 million by 2050. Therefore robust infrastructure needs to be put in place to cater to such a huge population in the near future. It would require undertaking progressive farming:-

1.       To develop disease and pest resistant varieties that require less land and area and are able to grow in harsh, dry climatic conditions as well as saline and acidic soils.

2.       Bio-fortification can be used to grow nutrient-rich crops.

In order to achieve these, farmers need to use the latest biotechnology methods in addition to conventional and traditional farming methods. This could be well achieved by private sector intervention in the agricultural market.

To attract private investment India’s prime minister has announced a provision of Rs. 1 lakh crore for developing agricultural infrastructure.

Similar provisions have also been announced for the fisheries, animal husbandry, herbal farming, bee-farming,  food processing, etc, sectors.

During Coronavirus crisis when the wheels of the world economy had slowed down, the Indian farmers produced a bumper crop with the resources available in the rural areas, Farmers have demonstrated that they are capable of dealing with difficult challenges.

“Burn down our cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic. But destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city”.

— William Jennings Bryan, ‘Cross of Gold’ Speech (1896)

Benefits of Private intervention

1.       High-End Technologies Development

2.       Building Farmer’s Resilience to Environmental Shocks and Minimizing Risks and Uncertainties

3.       Farm Mechanization

4.       Productivity Enhancement

5.       Economic Empowerment of Women