History
India had always been an agrarian land. We were so much dependent on agriculture and nature that we gave the animals a very reverent position in our day to day life. We respected them and honoured them. We even related them with the gods, as they helped us in garnering our livelihood. We have a relationship that dates back almost 8000-9000 B.C with agriculture.
Dangers
Contribution of agriculture in GDP is declining in an alarming pace. It was 30% in 1990-91 which reduced to almost half, 15.7% in 2008-09 (according to Indian Council for Agriculture Research). Since the agriculture sector is not so promising these days, people are migrating to other sectors for livelihood. We can't blame them, for they can't sustain their day to day needs of life with profits from agriculture. Moreover the fast growing industries (Industrialisation) are acting as magnets for those who want to earn decent livelihoods. Agriculture sector can't compete with them, at least presently. The consumption rate of food become high but the availability is declining. We can't neglect agriculture, because it is the backbone of any society.
Our agriculture sector is dominated by small land holders. Therefore the the quantity they can produce is also very low and the risk factor is high. But the problem is, the rate of food consumption is rising alarmingly. Agriculture business should be taken seriously by the government and by the people. Corporates should invest more in this sector. This is high time they should show their social responsibility.
Even though i am strictly against globalisation, it would open up enormous opportunity for food, food products, etc and will introduce more quality and competitiveness in this sector. But in our present condition it wouldn't be wise to allow foreign competitors to enter into our market. First we need to be ready. For that we need to be organised. The government need to provide a proper infrastructure for the farmers, like logistics and supply chain.
Is there a solution?
Since our society is facing a dangerous situation, we should face it boldly and everyone should be ready to take responsibility and must be ready to do some small sacrifices. We can always save our land by living in flats, thereby contributing towards increasing land for agriculture. One should avoid buying land for housing purposes. We can also take a socialist approach by, making agriculture the main priority of the states which are more suitable for agriculture, geographically and climatically. Those other states which are not, should encourage more industries.
Nice take on the subject , we too always think on same line .Actually there is something called land use classification , based on this classification one can decide what can be done on that land . But these classification are just for the sake ,not being used properly .
ReplyDeleteThanks and it is good to know that there are others who are also concerned. And thanks for mentioning "land use classification", it is a new thing to me.
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