- 1. Agriculture sector has been the back bone of India since
ages which is being fractured and requires immediate care. Team
Details: Name: V4INDIA Members- K.Vijay Sai Nandhini.j Saakshi
Naidu Billa Manvith Reddy Madhusudhanan.B Sowing Prosperity:
Boosting Agricultural Productivity
2. Agricultural infrastructure 60 percent of agriculture depends
on rainfall. Most of the rain water is not stored properly. A lot
of river water is flushed into the sea which is unused. Small
&medium scale irrigation projects must be developed on a
broader spectrum to reduce time, effort ,money and also address the
environmental concerns. Construction of wells and tanks for rain
water harvesting and increasing the water table level which may
substitute in times of water shortage Adopting periodic and
scientific maintenance methods of all the existing irrigation
projects and utilising them fully 3. SCIENTIFIC REFORMS AND
AWARENESS Unscientific methods adopted . Unscrupulous usage of
fertilizers & pesticides . Lack of awareness. Encouraging
farmers towards scientific methods like drip irrigation, crop
rotation etc. by creating awareness and providing incentives and
faster approvals to adopt those procedures Spreading agricultural
innovations like precision farming Spreading awareness regarding
government policies Making costly scientific equipments available
on a subsidised rental basis Creating awareness among small farmers
regarding the documentation of title deeds to avoid illegal
encroachments. 4. CHANGE IN FINANCIAL AIDING SYSTEM In the year of
2008. the Indian government has announced a crop loan waiver of
60,000 crores In other 2 years the loan waiver bill rose to 72,000
crores yet there is no substantial decrease in losses The financial
aid should be in the form of subsidies and incentives and not
direct cash Providing crop insurance which assures the farmer of
minimum returns in case of crop failure The fund allocation and
aiding should not be generalised and be decentralised to match up
with the local factors Encouraging private investment and making
farmers stake holders in the partnership and the government being a
regulatory authority which reduces the burden on government
exchequer 5. SUGGESTIONS MODIFYING GOVERNMENT SCHEMES Rural
employment generation schemes Such schemes have become a bane to
the Agriculture sector People involved as agricultural labourers
are now tending towards other works Local Bodies should coordinate
with farmers who require human force Allocate agriculture work to
the people employed for the scheme Of the total wage fixed, part of
it is given by the farmer who employed the work force and the rest
by the government This provides work force to the farmer at
reasonable cost , it reduces the financial burden on the government
without affecting the minimum fixed wage of the people enrolled Its
a win-win-win situation for farmers, government and employees.
Policy Implementation Quicker clearances and approvals for new
technology implementation Faster and fair refund of the subsidy
amount Eg- Drip Irrigation. Traditional techniques with modern
Scientific Methods Building of traditional Khuls modern Drip
irrigation. Using a mixture traditional water holding manure such
as cock feather with salt in combination with high yield NPK
fertilizer. Land Rezoning Highly productive land should be excluded
from rezoning completely and should be strictly reserved for
agriculture only except for basic infrastructure projects like
roads, railways etc The land deemed to be unfit for agriculture
should be used for industrial activities. 6. CHALLENGES Equitable
distribution of funds Heavy investment into services and sidelining
the agriculture sector by both government and private parties
Bringing the private parties into agriculture as part of corporate
social responsibility Social Stigma Belief of unprofitability
Feeling of lack of dignity towards agriculture by urban and
educated class Urban dreams The ultra modern facilities available
in urban areas are driving youth to cities Providing such
facilities in rural areas and keeping the youth to villages is a
challenge Preference of Engineering and other Sciences over
Agriculture among youth. Infrastructure and Transportation Recent
Supreme court comment on the rotting of wheat due to lack of
storage facility is an example of lack of proper storage facilities
Transportation to different areas of requirement is a challenge. 7.
Impacts Projected agriculture growth rate greater than 4% Improved
working and living conditions of farmers Effective investments
Better Land and Water utilisation Impact of improvised agriculture
on the Indian economy Stabilising the economy Bringing Parity to
demand and supply problem Utilising the foreign demand and
exporting the agriculture produce which results in decreasing of
the Current Account Deficit. 8. Appendix Colour Coding Problems-Red
Solution-Green Challenges-Blue Impact-Red and Voilet 9. References
www.dst.gov.in Water harvesting methods-www.water harvesting.org
www.savills.co.uk Worldbank.org Reuters- Article by Raghuram rajan
Sustainable development in india-abstract by ashok sengupta