India’s Agriculture Sector.

India is a global agricultural powerhouse. It is the world’s largest producer of milk, pulses, and spices, and has the world’s largest cattle herd (buffaloes), as well as the largest area under wheat, rice and cotton.

It is the second largest producer of rice, wheat, cotton, sugarcane, farmed fish, sheep & goat meat, fruit, vegetables and tea. The country has some 195 m ha under cultivation of which some 63 percent are rainfed (roughly 125m ha) while 37 percent are irrigated (70m ha). In addition, forests cover some 65m ha of India’s land.

India is an agricultural country. Currently India holds second position in agriculture. Agriculture makes up more than 16% of India’s GDP.

This is a sector where employment is available for many citizens. One of the foremost part of agriculture is “Farming”. India is a country where diversified crops are cultivated, where the soil is favourable, where the environment is suitable.

Instead of being a country full of agricultural prosperity, from past many years issues have been observed on a large scale. Inspite of being an agricultural country, Indian farmers and farming have to face many difficulties. Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy and contributes to the overall economic growth of the country. It also determines the standard of life for more than 50 percent of the Indian population.

But at present, Indian agriculture is facing many problems – some of them are natural while others are manmade. Some of the important problems related to agriculture and their possible solutions have been discussed below:

Let’s one by one encounter the complications that farmers faces;

1. LACK OF MACHINERIES.

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In spite of the large scale mechanisation of agriculture in some parts of the country, most of the agricultural operations in larger parts are carried on by human hand using simple and conventional tools and implements like wooden plough, sickle, etc.

Little or no use of machines is made in ploughing, sowing, irrigating, thinning and pruning, weeding, harvesting threshing and transporting the crops. This is specially the case with small and marginal farmers. It results in huge wastage of human labour and in low yields per capita labour force.

There is urgent need to mechanise the agricultural operations so that wastage of labour force is avoided and farming is made convenient and efficient. Agricultural implements and machinery are a crucial input for efficient and timely agricultural operations, facilitating multiple cropping and thereby increasing production.

In today’s time when technology have evolved greatly, machines have shown benefits in various fields. Talking about farming this is the field where technology can play a great role in production of crops. But the problem is small farmers in India are not able to excess this technology due to financial crisis. Farmers should be provided with required machines also which had affordable price for them.

2. LACK OF INFORMATION.

Sometimes farmers are unaware about many types of benefit they might receive but only if they knew about it. Either the help may be in financial way or else in providing various machinery. Therefore bringing awareness about schemes and policies to the farmers helps them to maintain their hope towards work they are doing.

Information need also vary from village to village, for e.g. farmers of the wheat production area are required the information about market rate, transport facilities etc. Some studies are found. Saravan R. et al (2008) carried the study on information pattern and information need of the tribal farmers in Arunachal Pradesh indicate that most of the farmers need information on various topics such as pest management, disease management.

3. LACK OF WATER SUPPLY.

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Water is an inseparable part of farming thus it becomes important that water supply is available throughout the farm. But problems have been seen in irrigation because at many places water supply is either absent or not managed properly.

Understanding the irrigation system from Israel many places in India have build or managed their irrigation system but still places in Gujarat and Rajasthan finds difficulty in managing their farms due to improper water supply.

Though India is the 2nd largest irrigated country in the world after China, only 1/3rd of the cropped area is under irrigation. Irrigation is the most important agricultural input in a tropical monsoon country like India where rainfall is uncertain, unreliable and erratic India cannot achieve sustained progress in agriculture unless and until more than half of the cropped area is brought under assured irrigation.

This is testified by the success story of agricultural progress in Punjab Haryana and western part of Uttar Pradesh where over half of the cropped area is under irrigation! Large tracts still await irrigation to boost the agricultural output.

4. LABOURS ARE LEAVING.

Now as problems are rising day by day. Farm labourers are left with no option but quitting. In a report by connection survey 48% farmers don’t want the next generation to take up farming. Down to earth organisation study shows that 76% farmers want to give up farming, as benefits of government schemes and policies go to big farmers, shows survey undertaken by CSDS on behalf of farmers association.

5. MANURES, FERTILISERS AND BIOCIDES.

Indian soils have been used for growing crops over thousands of years without caring much for replenishing. This has led to depletion & exhaustion of soils resulting in low productivity. The average yields of almost all the crops are among t e lowest in the world. This is a serious problem which can be solved by using more manures and fertilizers.

Manures & fertilizers play the same role in relation to soils as good food in relation to body. Just as a well-nourished body is capable of doing any good job, a well nourished soil is capable of giving good yields. It has been estimated that about 70 per cent of growth in agricultural production can be attributed to increased fertilizer application.

Therefore, increase in the consumption of fertilizers is a barometer of agricultural prosperity. However, there are practical difficulties in providing sufficient manures and fertilizers in all parts of a country of India’s dimensions inhabited by poor peasants. Cow dung provides the best manure to the soils.

But its use as such is limited because much of cow dung is used as kitchen fuel in the shape of dung cakes. Reduction in the supply of fire wood and increasing demand for fuel in the rural areas due to increase in population has further complicated the problem. Chemical fertilizers are costly and are often beyond the reach of the poor farmers. The fertilizer problem is, therefore, both acute and complex.

In order to find ways our country , by comparing Israel’s agriculture or Denmark’s milk production, should implement methods through which farmers and the economy both work on the same line without imbalance in any of the sector.

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