Growth Concerns In Agriculture

While agriculture’s proportion of the Indian economy has gradually decreased to lower than 15% owing to the robust development rates of the manufacturing and services segments, the sector’s importance in India’s economic and social foundation goes much beyond this metric.

Agriculture And The Growth Concerns

To begin with, roughly three-quarters of Indian families rely on income from the countryside. Second, the vast bulk of India’s impoverished (about 70% of the population) lives in rural regions. Third, to fulfill the demands of the growing population with rising incomes, India’s food safety relies on making cereal crops and boosting the production of fruits, milk, and vegetables. To organize so, an agricultural industry that is productive, competitive, diverse, and sustainable will necessitate developing quickly.

Problems In The Agriculture Sector

Three problems in the agriculture sector will be critical to India’s developmental process and the enhanced well-being of its countryside poor.

Challenges

1. Increasing agricultural output per unit of land: Because practically all cultivable land is farmed, increasing agricultural output per unit of land will have to be the principal push of agricultural expansion. Water supplies are also scarce, and agricultural water must compete with growing engineering and urban demands. Increased production, divergence to higher-value crops, and the development of price chains to lower marketing costs are all factors that must be exploited to boost productivity. 
2. Eliminating country poverty through an inclusive societies policy that includes both agriculture and non-farm engagement: Land reform must help the needy, women, landless, scheduled tribes, and tribes, among others. Furthermore, there are significant regional discrepancies: the mainstream of India’s impoverished are concentrated in rain-fed rich areas. It’s not been easy to reach out to such organizations.
3. Ensure for agricultural development meets the needs of food security: During India’s Green Revolution in the 1970s, a dramatic increase in food-grain production allowed the country to accomplish food-grain self-sufficiency and avoid famine. Cultivation in the 1970s and 1980s caused an increase in rural labor, which improved rural incomes and reduced rural poverty when combined with lower food prices. However, agricultural development slowed in the 1990s and also in the 2000s, averaging around 3.5 percent per year, and cereal harvests only increased by 1.4 percent per year. Agriculture’s slowing growth has been a key source of concern.

Cope with climate change, soil erosion, and biodiversity loss 

Climate change is causing environmental changes that are disrupting natural species and habitats in ways that are only now becoming apparent. There are indicators that rising temperatures are having an impact on biodiversity, and that shifting rainfall patterns, weather extremes, and acidification of the oceans are putting pressure on species that are already endangered by other human activities. 

Climate change is predicted to exacerbate the threat to biodiversity, yet healthy ecosystems can also assist mitigate the effects of climate change. 

If current warming trends continue, global temperatures could rise by even more than 1.5°C (2.7°F) by 2030, relative to pre-industrial times. Increased severity and frequency of fires, storms, and droughts are all major effects of climate change on biodiversity. In Australia, significant fires devastated 97,000km square of forest and associated habitats between the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, which are now proven to have been exacerbated by climate change. This exacerbates the threat to biodiversity, which is already under stress as a result of other human activities. The number of endangered species in the area is thought to have increased by 14% as a consequence of the fires.

Rising global temperatures have the ability to modify ecosystems over time by affecting what can grow and dwell there. Since the 1990s, data suggest that decreasing water vapor in the atmosphere has resulted in 59 percent of vegetated regions around the world showing severe bleaching and reduced growth rates. 

Adopt and learn new technologies 

Adoption of modern agriculture technology and its significance

Agriculture continues to be a major source of cash and food for a large number of people all over the world. This sector has experienced a lot of changes and progress in the various farming tactics and techniques over the last few years. For example, inorganic fertilizer is now widely used, as is the use of lower doses of pesticides and a variety of tractors and gear. The lack of such inputs has necessitated the consumption of natural resources and processes in order to increase agricultural productivity while lowering expenses. The employment of contemporary technologies in agriculture has numerous advantages. 

Agriculture’s usage of technology 

Agriculture technology can be employed in a variety of ways, including the application of herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, and enhanced seed. Technology has shown to be incredibly beneficial in the agriculture industry throughout time. Farmers can now grow crops in locations where they were previously thought to be impossible to cultivate, but this is only conceivable because of agricultural biotechnology. Genetic engineering, for example, has enabled the introduction of specific trains into the genomes of crops and animals. Crops become more resistant to pests and droughts as a result of such engineering. Farmers may use technology to electrify every operation for increased efficiency and productivity.

Farm machinery, crop sensors, GPS in field documentation, and biotechnology are all examples of technological applications in agriculture. 

Conclusion

We have learned about Agriculture: Growth Concerns, Growth Concerns in Agriculture, Coping with climate change, soil erosion and biodiversity loss, Adopting and learning new technologies, Meeting the rising demand for more food of higher quality, and all other topics related to Agriculture: Growth Concerns.

Farmers cope with climate change, soil erosion, and biodiversity loss, and adapt and learn new technologies to meet the rising demand for more food of higher quality. In many nations, agriculture is the primary source of pollution. Pesticides, fertilizers, and other hazardous agricultural chemicals have the potential to pollute freshwater, marine habitats, air, and soil. They can also last for generations in the environment.