Main Article Content
Abstract
In the last two decades Indian agriculture sector has been facing major challenges like deceleration in growth rate, inter-sectoral and inter-regional equity, declining input efficiency, degradation of natural resources, etc. with consequent and adverse effects on food and nutritional security, food inflation and poverty reduction. In the span of 11th five year Plan had some remarkable success in reversing and the deceleration of agricultural growth witnessed during the 9th and 10th Plan but food inflation stands as a major concern. The growth in agriculture sector during the 11th Five Year Plan is likely to be around 3.2 percent per year, which is higher than 10th Plan growth rate but lower than the target (4.0%) for 11th Plan. The 12th Plan growth target for the agriculture sector was set as 4 percent with food grains growth at about 2 percent and non-food grains sector growth about 5-6 percent. However, looking at the growth in agriculture sector in general and high-value agriculture, particularly, horticulture, fisheries, dairy and meat sector during the 11th Plan, there is a need to put additional efforts to reach the 4 percent growth in agriculture. The failure to achieve targeted growth in agriculture was a result of due to the inadequacies of the provision of the critical public goods such as research and development, extension services, surface irrigation, rural infrastructure, etc. on which agricultural growth thrives as well as inappropriate policies. In order to achieve the targeted growth in 12th Plan, we need to address some of these inadequacies. The agricultural sector requires substantial raise in investment in both the public and the private sector in agricultural research and development including extension, rural infrastructure, post-harvest and market infrastructure including storage and processing of agricultural products, reforms in laws related to land markets and marketing of agricultural products, and appropriate price policy. The cost of agricultural inputs such as irrigation, electricity for pumping water, fertilizer, etc. needs to be rationalized. The distribution aspects of the agricultural credit including the inter-regional and the inter-class inequalities in access to the credit, decline in rural branches, and declining share of direct credit, etc. must to be addressed. People’s participation, which will help in promoting the bottom up of the approach in planning process and also help in the greater and faster diffusion of the technologies and to the best practices among farmers, community based on which actions and participation of disadvantaged sections of the society in developmental process, needs to be strengthened and enlightened.