State of Agriculture

Concerns:
Depleted groundwater levels.
Unseasonal rains result in Crop failure.
Land Fragmentation.
Unfinished agenda in land reform.

Steps taken:
Kishan Vikas Kendras.
Soil health cards.


Way to go:

• Climate resilient agricultural practices must be brought in.
• Investment into agricultural research needs to be stepped up.
• Provide remunerative marketing of horticulture crops.
• To increase demand, awareness regarding Spot and Future trading of agricultural commodities needs to be spread.
• Reforms in APMC Act is needed to protect farmers from being exploited by middlemen.
• Swaminathan Report recommended reduction of rate of interest for crop loans to 4 per cent, with government support and MSP should be at least 50% more than the weighted average cost of production.
• Crop insurance schemes must ask for reasonable premium rates. Remote sensing technology must be used to estimate crop loss property so that fair compensation could be awarded.
• Technical upgradation.
• Crop Diversification
• Integrated Farming
• Drip Irrigation.
• Organic Farming.
• Taxes on agricultural machinery should be removed.
• Agro-based industries should be fostered and commodity parks created at the district level.