The document summarizes strategies for boosting agricultural productivity in India sustainably. It notes that agriculture currently employs 70% of India's workforce but only contributes 13% to GDP. Most farmers are small landholders on less than 1.2 hectares. Productivity is low due to factors like inadequate irrigation, poor techniques, and lack of infrastructure like storage. The document outlines a sustainable "Green Revolution" approach including integrated pest management, soil fertility management, water resource management, access to clean energy, knowledge transfer, and genetic improvements tailored to local conditions. It emphasizes empowering small farmers, women, and adopting practices suited to traditional knowledge and climate change adaptation.
1. Manthan Topic-Sowing
Prosperity
Team Detail-
Coordinator- Ashish Dubey
Member 1-Vijay Dangi
Member 2-Abhishek Yadav
Member 3-Kushlendra Yadav
Member4-Neelesh Maheshwari
Boosting agriculture productivity sustainably: A
Sustainable Green Revolution
2. .
During the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007 – 2012), agriculture grew at 3.6%
p.a. vis-à-vis. the overall growth rate of the economy which stood at 8.16%
p.a. The neglect of agriculture and the rapid growth of non-agricultural
sectors has led to a serious agrarian crisis and increased the disparity
between urban and rural incomes. Although the share of agriculture in GDP
has declined over the past two decades, the dependence of the workforce on
agriculture remains high in rural areas. Nearly 63% of all male and 79% of
all female workers are employed in the agricultural sector. Also, as India’s
urban population continues to expand and demands more food, the
domestic agricultural industry must be made competitive so that it can feed
its citizens at a reasonable cost.
In 2011-2012, agriculture employed 70% of the country’s work force but only
contributed to 13% of the GDP.
The average size of agricultural land holdings has decreased from 2.3
hectares in 1971 to 1.2 hectares in 2011.
80% of all farmers in the country are small or marginal farmers operating
on a little over 40% of all cultivable land in the country.
The agricultural productivity of China in corn, rice and paddy is twice that
of India’s.
40% of all fruits and vegetables produced in India perish due to shortage of
storage facilities
3. Causes of low productivity
General Factors
(a) Overcrowding in Agriculture
(b) Discouraging Rural Atmosphere
(c) Inadequate non-firm Services
(d) Natural Calamities
Institutional Factors
(a) Size of Holding
(b) Pattern of Land Tenure
Technological Factors
(a) Poor Technique of Production
(b) Inadequate Irrigational Facilities
As today's youth is
considering agriculture as
bad occupation and they are
diverting there minds to
other career prospective
but they are not trying to
develop agriculture and
making it attractive so that
more and more people
should join instead Of
leaving it. So that’s why I
took this cause to develop
this and make it attractive
and yet more people should
join this occupation in a
proper manner and help
agriculture to grow.
Reason
5. Sustainable agriculture
technologies
Dynamic integrated Agricultural
production:
• Integrated crop protection
– Agriculture-ecosystem based
– Integrated pest management
– Multi-cropping systems
• Integrated soil fertility
management
– Use local resources, e.g. SRI,
organic
– Integrated crop-livestock
systems
– Green cover, nitrogen fixing
plants,
• Molecular biology and
biotech as appropriate
Integrated Land and water
resource management:
• Multi-stakeholder
participation
• Community-driven
• ↑ Role of women
• Small-scale irrigation
– E.g. sand dams
– Low pressure drip irrigation
• Rainwater capture
• Water conservation & soil
moisture management
– Integrated soil management
– Cover crops
6. Access to energy and
mechanization:
• Mechanization choice
depends on capital to
labor ratio
• Mechanization requires
a shift from traditional
biomass to MODERN,
AFFORDABLE &CLEAN
energy
– Eg. biodiesel-driven
multifunctional platform
– Other sustainable bio fuels
for local use
– Other renewable , small
hydro, solar dryers,
Knowledge management &
precision agriculture:
• Mobile and wireless
technologies facilitate credit,
extension, information
transfer, weather forecast
• ICT helps fine-tune
management to local
conditions
– Portable diagnostic tools kits,
GPS, animal identification, etc.
– Facilitate integrated soil,
nutrient, and pest management
• E.g. Rapid assessment
• Could do more through PPP
• Engaging communities in
participatory agricultural
innovation
7. Technologies:
Genetic improvement
• Complements; does not
replace integrated plant, soil,
water, nutrient management
• Should include traditional
knowledge
• Good applications e.g.
enhance nutrients and water
uptake and plant resistance
to drought
Current applications- pest
and herbicide resistance
• REQUIRES risk management
• Intellectual property and
competitiveness issues
– Multilateral system offers an
alternative
8. National actions:
• Include in national sustainable
development strategies
– Sustainable land and water
management,
• adaptation to climate
change
• Limits the use of scarce inputs
– Build and reorient extension
services
• Farmer-to-farmer, with close
links to research
– Market integration
– Post-harvest technologies &
infrastructure
– Land tenure protection
– Empowerment of women
International Cooperation
• Agricultural resources for ODA
– Support scaling up of existing and
affordable best practices especially
in integrated water, soil and land
management
– Provide effective protection against
weather and price risks facing small
holders
– Support orphan crops research
Climate change
– Fund research & development of
drought/heat resistant seed varieties
and livestock breeds, technological
solution based on traditional
knowledge
Sustainable Agriculture
– Sustainable biofuels criteria
– Extension services for scalable
practices
9. Impact Of the solution
This solution will be helpful in developing:
•80% of all farmers in the country are small or marginal farmers
operating on a little over 40% of all cultivable land in the country.
•40% of all fruits and vegetables produced in India perish due to
shortage of storage facilities
•It will increase the total GDP of agriculture
•It will also increase the productivity
•Huge increase in yields possible with diffusion of knowledge
10. Small land holdings reduce the rate of
return for productive investments, which
disincentivizes farmers from undertaking
capital expenditure. Interestingly
though, China has managed to increase
its farm productivity levels despite the
fact that Chinese farmers have smaller
land holdings than their Indian
counterparts.
Overdependence on rainfall renders
precarious the returns on agriculture.
Unscientific methods of cultivation
have led to the erosion of soil fertility,
depletion of water table levels and pre
harvest losses.
Nearly 80% of small and marginal
farmers suffer from financial exclusion
and have no formal access to credit
Excessive regulations by specific
states prevent farmers from accessing a
nationwide market to sell their produce
Greater investment needed
Focus on small resource
poor farmers, women, etc.
Fundamental shift in
agriculture and food needed
High & rising input costs,
tied to fuel prices -
affordability an issue
Intensive agriculture yields
growth declining
Environmental impacts of
intensive agriculture are
large