AGRICULTURE

INTRODUCTION-:

In India as it is seen that agriculture is the most important sector for

the Indian economy. It is seen that the means of life and fooding of

two third majority of India is vested on the hands of the agriculture

sector. The agriculture sector also has its influence in the Indian

economy and its GDP status. Almost half of the India’s area is taken

under the agriculture sector which indicates that agriculture is the

basic means of economy for a country like India. It is seen that the

declination of the shares of agriculture sector in the GDP. But still

agriculture can be regarded as the main source of economy for the

country and also it gives a huge boost to the GDP of the country.

Agriculture also helps us enormously in the socio economic

development of the country.

After independence India has really done

well in the field of agriculture and it is a good sign for the country. The

gradual growth in the field of agriculture has helped the Indian

economy gain momentum. As the Indian population is majorly

dependent on the agriculture of the country, it has a huge amount of

inputs as per required by the population of the country. It is also

found that the present scenario demands more production and India

is self sufficient enough to provide sufficient amount of grains

required for the sustainability of the nation. Political stability of the

country is the most important term which should be taken up by the

country and its government policies.

Green Revolution is another very good implementation that needs to

be taken up by the country which will help in the increase of the

economy of the country. The Green Revolution basically means to

add some extra areas which were not utilized are to be used for

agriculture improvement and also to be used for the irrigation

facilities. Usages of new techniques are also the basis of the Green

Revolution in India. This is the basic thing that needs to be done at

this present moment of time. This has now been seen in the modern

agricultural sector and it is also found that the production of wheat

and rice has increased because of this revolution and reform. For this

basic reason the Indian government introduced it in 13 states to

increase the production. Hence it can be said that there is a certain

need to evolve the second Green Revolution in India.

 PESTLE ANALYSIS

The pestle analysis is a tool to identify the various needs and wants

of the various issues of any of the sectors that we are dealing with.

The basic ideology of the analysis is to find out the actual situation of

the prescribed sector and hence understand what steps needs to be

taken to eradicate any sort of problems that arises in the analysis.

We get to find a proper view of the sectors and hence follow certain

steps in developing the sector.

The pestle analysis is a combination of six basic

components which tend to have an effect on the various sectors of

the country. The letter “P stands for political, where it shows us the

view points of the political influences which shows its effect on the

sector. The political environment is a very important aspect that has a

toll on the sector. The next letter “E “stands for economic, which is

fundamental for the development of any sector. More the strength of

economy of the country the better it is for the development of the

sectors. Then the letter which comes is “S” and it stands for social.

This show the social effect which takes place on the sectors and
shows its outcome on the social warfare. Then the next letter is “T”

which stands for technological. Here the uses of new and innovative

technologies are taken into the forefront. The new technologies which

have come up have indeed helped in improving the different sectors

of the country. The next letter is “L” which stands for legal. Here it

shows us the legal aspects of the country and the sectors which

needs to be taken care of and hence should be within the jurisdictions

of the law of the country. The last but not the least comes the letter

“E” which stands for ecological which is very much important in the

modern day world as the environment is degrading rapidly and hence

we need to keep a check on it. So this helps us to find out the

remedies of the situation and make implementations.

The various aspects are very much important and hence we will have

a closer look on the issues and find solutions for the same and in

return develop the country. This analysis will indeed give us the

necessary information which is required to find out the basic

necessities to be implemented in the Indian agriculture. This will also

show us the pathway which we need to adopt in order to gain a

momentum in the agriculture sector.

POLITICAL EFFECTS:-

The political environment has always been lagging

behind in each and every particular ground which we look into. The

political scenario has always been a sector whereby the country has

substantially lost its glamorous days. If the political infrastructure of

the country is introduced and implemented in a proper manner then

the country will do wonders in terms of economy and all other sectors

of the country. The political scenario has greatly influenced the

agriculture sector as the development of this sector has been due to

the efforts put the government officials. The political infrastructure

needs to implement them in the agriculture sector heavily as it is the

main source of income for the country. As it is already mentioned that

majority of the Indian population largely vests on the agriculture as

their main source of income. So, the Government has also taken

certain steps in implementing various new procedures in order to

develop the agricultural sector.

The new implementation which has to be made

is the Green Revolution, which has really made a great appearance

in the modernistic world. It is seen that the revolution has indeed

proved successful in attaining good amount of productivity in the

yester years that have gone by. Hence it can be said that the Green

Revolution should be taken up again in order to gain improvement in

the field of agriculture. Green Revolution basically means to work on

more areas of land which are not utilized by the agriculture but are

simply kept as a piece of land. The land will be used for various

irrigation facilities and for the fertility of the land. This will indeed

increase the production to a great extent. Various pesticides and

other fertilizers will be used to nourish the land and ensure good

productivity.

Government has taken certain steps in implementing the

issue in as many as 13 states but not to a full-fledged level as a result

of which the yield of productivity has not changed significantly. Hence

this shows that the productivity was not as great but still there was

some amount of increase in the productivity which needs to be seen

after by the Government. This small but necessary step will indeed

yield good results for the country for the future days coming by.

Hence Government is taking steps adequately to enhance the

productivity of the country. So second Green Revolution is on the

cards. This is the political effect on agriculture.

 The government policies should also be made in such

a manner that so that adequate amount of money is incorporated for

the agriculture sector. This needs to be done as monetary benefit is

required to develop any sector in the country. The ideas and

implementations of the government will determine the future of the

country. This is the political effect on the field of agriculture sector.

ECONOMIC EFFECTS:-

India is a developing country and it is seen by the

reports that India is one of the nations whose economy is increasing

rapidly and in the developing stage. India is also having a focus on

the development of the country by developing its economy. India falls

under the category of the BRIC nations which are rapidly increasing

their economy at the world stage.

Today almost all the countries are looking

forward to increase their economic development of the country.

Various policies and ideas have been implemented to gain the

economic development of the country. The new and the innovated

methods which have recently been adopted is that of the Special

Economic Zones. This has been taken up by many of the countries

including India for the betterment of the country’s social and

economic development.

The special economic zone is a geographical region

which has its own laws and it is seen that that the laws implemented

for the special economic zone is much more lenient in comparison to

the country’s economic laws. In this zone basically the foreign direct

investment is given due freedom as the custom duties are free and

hence they are able to invest their money in our country without

paying much taxes. The main goal and objective of the introduction of

the special economic zone is the promotion of economic growth by

attracting the foreign investments to come with the cancellation of

huge amount of taxes that were imposed on them.

The policy of the special economic zone was

taken by India in April, 2009. Previously the policy of Export

Processing Zone was inherent but special economic zone has

become the new model for the country. It is a provision made

whereby the export processing zones would be converted into special

economic zones. At the present moment of time there are a total of

462 formal special economic zones in India. But the most important
thing which should be kept in mind is that the land that will be taken

for the development of the special economic zone should not be an

agriculture based land as this will not increase the social and

economic condition of the country but will instead be wastage of the

fertile land.

Hence this is an important factor that needs to be looked

upon as the fertility of the land is very precious for the country as the

productivity of the agriculture depends on it. So the Government is

looking into matter very carefully so that the special economic zones

are not placed in the fertile lands. This is a very good sign for the

country. This gives us an indication that the Government is taking

adequate steps in order to develop the country’s social and economic

sector of the country.

This certainly will yield us a lot of profit in the coming

period as the foreign investments will be more in the part of the

agriculture sector. So the same process should be continued for the

future days as well in order to gain the development in the country

which has been lagging behind by a few steps. This is the economic

effect on the agriculture sector.

SOCIAL EFFECTS: -
Social effects are another important aspect that needs to be looked

upon very carefully. Agriculture sector needs to be implemented

keeping into consideration the various social changes that have been

happening over a period of time.

TECHNOLOGICAL EFFECTS:-
 The new technologies which have been coming up

in the modern world have really made lot of advancement in each and

every field. This has indeed helped the sectors for developing new

techniques and implementing them in their own field. Same is the

case with agriculture sector as well. The agriculture sector has also

come a long way in terms of its usage of new technologies and

implementations available to the country as a result of which the

production of agriculture has increased to a significant level.

The new technologies which have come now

are the ones which are going to yield maximum profit and hence it

has become very essential to make the farmers and the agriculturists

aware about it. The recent technology which has come into the fore is

that of the genetically modified technology popularly known as the

GM technology. As we have already seen that the main challenge for

the India’s agriculture sector is the improvement in yield of crops.

This problem has basically come into the fore because of the

population increase and the less availability of water reserves for the

agriculture purpose. Hence the GM technology is taken into account

for the rapid increase in the production of the agriculture sector of the
country and because of this reason the BT cotton hybrid was given

approval for the cultivation in India.

The importances of mobile phones have also

brought a significant change in all the sectors of the country. It has

been majorly seen that the farmers are not aware of the daily reports

that have been happening in the country. This was a major drawback

for the farmers as they remained unknown of the various factors like

that of weather, market prices and all such factors.

Vodafone hence introduced two important

services targeted at the customers known as the “IFFCO Kisan

Sanchar Limited” and “Reuters Market Light”. In this program the

Vodafone Company were providing 5 daily messages to the farmers

free of cost so that they could be aware of the happenings in the

market and in the country as well. This was a very good

implementation made which was beneficial for the farmers. They

were also given a helpline number for their queries. This gives us an

idea that the company is doing its responsibilities in terms of

corporate governance which is a big achievement.

LEGAL EFFECTS:-
 The legal effects of the country are also needed

to be taken care of by the Government. There is a certain need

that the government should take immediate steps to reform the

le4gal aspects of the country. This indeed takes a lot to do but

still the aspects need to be sought out irrespective of the

problem.

Education is major legal reform that needs to be taken up

by the Government and since this is an aspect which has a

higher impact on the future of the society. The Government

needs to take adequate steps to eradicate the problem of

uneducated people of the country. It is not a matter which

should be kept without a notice on the minds of the

Government. The workers and the agriculturists also need to be

educated in order to understand the basic necessities of the

agriculture sector and its new implemented technologies which

have come up. Without proper education the agriculturists

would not be able to utilize the resources properly. So

Government should legalize the aspect of education in order to

improve the agriculture sector.

 The other factor which comes into view is the

part of micro financing which has really taken a toll in the

modern era. The project has been initiated in Bangladesh by

the so called Grameen Bank which has been very much

successful in that country. The same policy should be applied in

India where poor people should be given small loans so that

they can work on it and in the interim put a lower rate of

interest. This factor should indeed be legalized by the

Government so that the poor farmers get some amount of

benefit from the loans imparted to them. The private banks

should be given due permission to allow them to sanction loans

for the poor agriculturists.

Hence the present scenario demands the

government to take adequate actions and legalize the various

important factors for the development of the agriculture sector which

can be determined by the result in the terms of productivity. These

are the legal effects on agriculture.

ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS:-
 In the modern day world the most important aspect

that needs to be taken care of is the ecology and the environment.

The degrading environmental condition has led to the various

problems of health and other related problems. So this becomes the

prime responsibility to look after the environment and take optimum

care.

Pollution in the country is the main aspect which has to be taken

care of. The degrading pollution has indeed taken its toll in the

environment and it can be measured by the increase in diseases in

the increasing population. As it is seen that the land and water has

also been detoriated because of the increasing pollution. The human

beings are basically the main means of polluting the environment.

The industrialists have built up big industries and the wastages are all

being set up in the ponds, and water lakes which are used by the

agriculture farms as a result of which the productivity of the

agriculture sector is degrading and hence decreasing the amount

required for the population to consume. This indeed is a very big

problem which needs to be taken care by the Government. The

Government has indeed taken steps to eradicate the problem by

putting many barriers like the carbon credit whereby the industries
need to put a check on the carbon emission which will decrease the

pollution because of the industries.

The Green Revolution will also help in

decreasing the pollution of the country. This is also an indication that

the Government should take initiatives in bringing about the second

green revolution. This in turn will help us in maintaining a good

productivity from the agriculture sector which is very much essential

for the increasing rate in population of the country.

As the population is increasing, the agriculture

production should also pick up in order to maintain the balance. The

Government should stop the usage of plastic bags in the country

which is a non degradable product and it also decreases the fertility

of the soil. The Government has taken certain steps but it is not taken

in a proper manner as a result of which the plastic bags are still being

used continuously which is not helping the issue of environment.

These are the various ecological issues which are having an effect on

the agriculture sector.

CONCLUSION:-
 For the agriculture sector to enhance, the Government

should take adequate steps to enhance the productivity and the

efficiency of the products. There are various steps that need to be

taken in order to increase the level of agriculture. The steps may

include the doubling of the rate of growth of the irrigated area.

Rain water harvesting is another important

aspect which can be taken up by the Government. Education is

another important aspect which will help the agriculturists to enhance

the productivity and this will help them in utilizing the resources

appropriately. It is time that we understand the need of taking the

matter of agriculture sector into consideration so that the need which

is developing day by day does not hinder.

The facilities should be provided properly

by the Government and there are other policies which can be taken

up are by relaxing the taxes imposed on them. And the farmers

should be given proper hospitalities as they are the key persons for

the country to run on in a proper manner.

This is the PESTLE ANALYSIS of the agriculture sector.

 • Doubling the rate of growth of irrigated area;

• Reclaiming degraded land and focusing on soil quality;

• Improving water management, rain water harvesting and watershed

development;

• Bridging the knowledge gap through effective extension services;

• Diversifying into high value outputs, fruits, vegetables, flowers,

herbs and spices, medicinal plants, bamboo, bio-diesel, but with

adequate measures to ensure food security;

• Providing easy access to credit at affordable rates.

PROBLEMS OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE-:

• Poor productivity.

• Falling water levels.

• Expensive credit.

• A distorted market.

• Many intermediaries who increase cost but do not add much value.

• Laws that stifle private investment.

• Controlled prices.

• Poor infrastructure.

• Produce that does not meet international standards.

 • Lack of education and awareness about opportunities.

• Lack of Market Knowledge and Marketing skills.

• Lack of professionalism and small land holding.

• Absence of innovative financing for agriculture.

STEPS TO REMOVE AGRICULTURE PROBLEMS

• Give States an incentive to amend the APMC act and abolish mandi

taxes. This would allow competitive markets to develop; farmers and

processors will both gain.

• Support the organized private sector in increasing its spending on

extension and technology transfer. This would give farmers the knowledge

of what to grow, and how to grow so that stringent quality norms are met.

• Lower the total tax burden on processed foods so that the sector picks

up, and consequently demand for farm produce rises.

• Target foreign buyers of high-value ethnic Indian foods, as opposed to

commodity exports-starting with the large NRI population of 20 million,

which can be a huge market.

• private partnership that allows private investors to invest in agriculture

infrastructure in partnership with banks and financial institutions.

• To hold Campus Seminar for Agri-graduates for incubation and

promotion of effective agriculture techniques.
Introduction:::::::::::::::To carry improved technologies to farmers and to

replicate the success achieved in the production of wheat and rice a National

Pulse Development Programme, covering 13 states, was launched in 1986.

Similarly, a Technology Mission on Oilseeds was launched in 1986 to increase

production of oilseeds in the country and attain self-sufficiency. Pulses were

brought under the Technology Mission in 1990. After the setting up of the

Technology Mission, there has been consistent improvement in the production of

oilseeds. A new seeds policy has been adopted to provide access to high-quality

seeds and plant material for vegetables, fruit, flowers, oilseeds and pulses,

without in any way compromising quarantine conditions. To give fillip to the

agriculture and make it more profitable, Ministry of Food Processing Industries

was set up in July 1988. Government has also taken initiatives to encourage
private sector investment in the food processing industry.

There is an urgent need for second green revolution in Indian agriculture and

taking it to a higher trajectory of 4 per cent annual growth.

Various steps need to be taken to achieve this objective:

STEPS-:

• Doubling the rate of growth of irrigated area;

• Reclaiming degraded land and focusing on soil quality;

• Improving water management, rain water harvesting and watershed

development;

• Bridging the knowledge gap through effective extension services;

• Diversifying into high value outputs, fruits, vegetables, flowers,

herbs and spices, medicinal plants, bamboo, bio-diesel, but with

adequate measures to ensure food security;

• Providing easy access to credit at affordable rates.

PROBLEMS OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE-:

• Poor productivity.

• Falling water levels.

• Expensive credit.

• A distorted market.

• Many intermediaries who increase cost but do not add much value.
 • Laws that stifle private investment.

• Controlled prices.

• Poor infrastructure.

• Produce that does not meet international standards.

• Lack of education and awareness about opportunities.

• Lack of Market Knowledge and Marketing skills.

• Lack of professionalism and small land holding.

• Absence of innovative financing for agriculture.

STEPS TO REMOVE AGRICULTURE PROBLEMS

• Give States an incentive to amend the APMC act and abolish mandi

taxes. This would allow competitive markets to develop; farmers and

processors will both gain.

• Support the organized private sector in increasing its spending on

extension and technology transfer. This would give farmers the knowledge

of what to grow, and how to grow so that stringent quality norms are met.

• Lower the total tax burden on processed foods so that the sector picks

up, and consequently demand for farm produce rises.

 • Target foreign buyers of high-value ethnic Indian foods, as opposed to

commodity exports-starting with the large NRI population of 20 million,

which can be a huge market.

• private partnership that allows private investors to invest in agriculture

infrastructure in partnership with banks and financial institutions.

• To hold Campus Seminar for Agri-graduates for incubation and

promotion of effective agriculture techniques.

RECESSIONS TOLL ON INDIAN AGRICULTURE

There are predictions that the processed food sector won’t grow as much as

hoped for and the exports from for the processed foods and also for other food

grains as bad as one could expect for the rest of the Indian goods and services.

Elections apart, there is the general world conditions.

The developed countries, the G-7 are more severely impacted. The industrialized

economies, the IMF notes, have been severely affected since the time of the

world war 11.The US economy is the hardest hit and so too others.

As for India we come in the category of the G-20 and it is noted that for these

countries, including India, the IMF notes the contraction of the world economy

and output is likely to be between 0.5% and 1%.For the USA and the rest of the

G-7, the contraction of the economy would be between 3.0 to 3.5 %, the IMF

says.

So, the countries in the developing world are relatively better placed. This is good

news, for us.

But for the agriculture sector, it is now widely reported and editorials are written

in the major business dailies. They all say there is a mix of many policies, more

in the nature of the protectionist economies. There is a ban virtually on all

foograins exports, rice and wheat are banned. There is also in the reverse a near

zero duty import tariff for raw sugar. The sugar industry is almost up in protest

and the area under sugarcane can be further reduced owing to this “free” imports

of raw sugar.But then, there is a need to keep a tight control over the domestic

prices on all essential commodities of common consumption. Sugar is a critical

daily item of consumption for the vast population.So, for the present even the

futures trading in agricultural commodities are controlled to avoid further

speculation in these commodities and hence the changes that further rise in food

prices can be controlled. This is what is happening.

So, what is good for the developed countries, stimulus packages to stimulate

spending and create confidence, in countries like India there is need to maintain

a stable price regime first for the food economy, so that the common man’s

perception of the economic recession is kept far from one of gloom and fall in

confidence in the government?

Fortunately, the elections and the parties and even the politicians, more out of

narrow selfishness rather than the concern for the common man economic

recession and the consequences, fall in real estate or further import of edible oils

and pulses or raw sugar or any other item of common man’s needs are freely

resorted to even if it means further government spending and further incurring of

deficits and more delayed time in the economic recovery.

There is fear that very soon; if not already there is deflation that is further decline

in consumer spending.

The time of economic recession is one when great leadership and confidence-

building measures are called for. In India we have a government and a Prime

Minister who is supposed to be a great economist; we don’t find any public

enlightenment. There is, if any, total silence and no other competent leaders,

either from the ruling combines or from the Opposition ranks, including from the

otherwise vocal Communists, there is no bother about how the economy over all

is doing or not doping. So, what we, the public, have to perceive is the small

sings, here and there and we have to feel confident from the small mercies from

the private sector. India’s great key advantages is its human resources and it is
here we need some imaginative initiatives. The government must better consult

the IT leaders in drawing up polices to enhance the competitive advantages of

this sector. So, the current economic recession, while it causes much concern in

such sectors like the export front, there is much effort is needed to manage the

economy to steer it out of the present crisis.

Social Effects: -

Social effects are another important aspect that needs to be looked upon very

carefully. Agriculture sector needs to be implemented keeping into consideration

the various social changes that have been happening over a period of time.

India has been one of the pioneer countries in the area of development planning.

It has gone through the five-decade of planning and has almost completed the

first nine five-year plans and a few annual plans in between and the tenth plan is

on the anvil. The experience of development planning in India can best be judged

initially in terms of outlays and targets and then in terms of the resulting growth-
wise performance, and finally in terms of the overtime changes that have taken

place in certain crucial economic and social indicators that ultimately affect the

quality of life of majority of the people. The final performance of the economy is,

therefore, linked both with economic growth and development.

In order to assess the country’s performance and progress towards economic

development, we must supplement, if not supplant, the growth rate of GNP by

other more microeconomic measures. It is not enough to measure progress

merely in terms of GNP, it is imperative to look at the structural changes too by

assessing the distributional effects of economic growth in the economy on the

basis of behaviour pattern, as shown by certain crucial economic and social

indicators that effect a larger section of the society and through which the

benefits of growth are supposed to get distributed amongst the majority of the

people. There are many such indicators, and there are a few specific bases (like

the aspirations of the people) to underline such indicators, but the following

indicators seem to be more important:

• Agricultural Production

• Food grain Production

• Industrial Production

• Electricity Generation

• Wholesale Prices

• Consumer Prices

• Imports
 • Exports

• Per Capital Availability of certain important articles of consumption

• Population: Birth Rate, Death Rate, life Expectancy at Birth

• Education: Literacy rate

• Health and family Welfare

The present Paper briefly looks just at the decade-wise and year-wise (up to

1996-97) performance of agricultural production and also the profile of food grain

production and beyond that it also looks at the plight of the poor including the

marginal farmers (the poorest of the poor) in terms of one of the emerging

dimensions of poverty in recent times, described by the hypothesis of ‘lower-

income and higher-prices’, and its fall outs on various economic and social

policies of the government. .

Agricultural production includes both food grains (essentially, rice and wheat) and

non-food grains (essentially, oilseeds, and sugarcane), the former contributing

approximately two-thirds of the total agricultural production. On the basis of the

time series data, as computed from Economic Surveys of the Economic Division

of the Ministry of Finance for the years 1987-88 and 1997-98, it is seen that

agricultural production shows an upward trend throughout both in terms of

decades and individual years. As compared to 1950-51, the rise has been 221

per cent by the end of the fourth decade (1990-91), and about 280 per cent by

the year 1996-97. However, the percentage changes over the previous periods

vary. The highest percentage of 48.9 occurred by the end of the first decade and
then it fell down to 24.9 by the end of the second decade and further fell down to

18.9 by the end of the third decade but by the end of the fourth decade it

improved and touched a high of 45.3.

In fact, the years 1982-83, 1984-85, and 1986-87 were the worst years (due to

poor monsoons and the resulting drought conditions) during the decade of

eighties in terms of overall agricultural production. The decade of nineties also

does not show much improvement as compared to the earlier decades. Talking

in terms of years within the decade of nineties, the year 1991-92 was the worst

when the production declined by 2 per cent over the previous year. Another bad

year was 1995-96 when the percentage change was again negative. In terms of

percentage changes the best year was 1996-97 when it touched a high of 9.3 pc.

It was 2.6 pc in 2007-08 from 3.8 pc in 2006-07. The overall scenario is that as

compared to earlier years, agricultural production has declined. This is not a

healthy sign for the economy.

Food Grain production is a part of agricultural production, it shows the same

upward rising trend throughout as the agricultural production, both in terms of

decades and individual years. It is seen that as compared to 1950-51, the rise

here has been consistently more than that of the agricultural production. The

same is true of percentage changes. The period after 1966 (ie, after the Third

Plan) witnessed a substantial increase in food grain production, basically

because of the New Agricultural Strategy that focused on modern inputs

(especially fertilizers, improved seeds, credit, marketing etc.) for intensively

increasing food crop production of wheat, rice, jowar, bajra, and maize in

selected regions.

This strategy brought about a revolution in agriculture that is also termed as

Green Revolution. It is basically because of this strategy that food grain

production increased substantially after the Third plan. Within the decade of 90s,

the trend was, however, reverted, when in 1991-92 and then in 1995-96, food

grain production declined respectively by 4.5 per cent and 5.8 per cent over the

previousyears.

According the latest data, the country’s food grain production in the crop year

ending June 30 this year, is now expected to be around 229.85 million tonne, up

0.9 per cent from an earlier estimate announced in February, largely due to

record increase in rice harvest. The government had set a target to produce 233

milliontons..

In recent months, the delay in the arrival of monsoon and expected rainfall has

cast its shadow over the Kharif production in Uttar Pradesh. It is estimated that

the majority of the farmers (around 91 per cent) are marginal and they will be in

much trouble. It is also estimated that only 70 per cent of the agriculture area has

irrigational facilities, while the remaining 30 per cent of the area depends only on

rainfall. The Agriculture Department has set a target of 179 lakh metric tonnes

grain production whereas during 2008-09, the Kharif production was 160 lakh

metrictons.
This brief review of agricultural production underlines the fact that agricultural

performance, apart from other factors, is still, to a large extent, controlled by the

vagaries of nature, though human effort, supported by state policies, has quite

often played a positive role in boosting agricultural production. Although India is

one of the largest food producers in the world and it has a potential to produce

even more, there is a need to focus on post harvest losses which amount to

about 65 million tonnes every year and which is more than the total consumption

in the UK. The godowns of the Food Corporation of India all over are always over

packed with food grains, which instead of reaching the poor, eventually get

wasted. There is, thus, a need of evolving better post harvest technologies and

food processing of food items to avoid such losses to a great extent.

Technological Effects:-The new technologies have helped in the

agriculture sector and new implementations have gradually increased the

production of agriculture. Establishing institutes at provincial and federal level is

an urgent need for making the farmers aware about genetically modified (GM)

technology. Due to insufficient biotechnology utilization there was a large decline

in Indias agricultural production,Sustainability and improvement in the crops yield

are the major challenges for India’s agriculture sector, in order to deal with the

problems like population increase and water scarcity.

Utilization of GM technology is the reason for rapid progress of worldwide

agriculture sector. In the year 2003, BT cotton hybrid was approved for

commercial cultivation in India.

The impacts of mobile phones have also taken the agriculture sector into a

good and dynamic direction.” The Impact of Mobile Phones," where I outline

the findings of Vodaphone's Policy Paper on the benefits mobile phones have in

India. Over the past decade, India has made significant progress in developing a

sophisticated information and communications technology sector. However,

agriculture remains a vital sector in India's economy "where it contributes close

to 20% of GDP and where 60% of the population depends on agriculture either

directly or indirectly." The purpose of this entry is discuss the report's

investigation into the impact of mobiles on agricultural productivity. Although

the focus is on India, the conclusions are applicable to any nation where

agriculture has a significant role in providing income for its citizens.

Mobile phones are an essential tool in accessing valuable information in three

areas including know-how (crop choice and seed variety), context (weather,

plant protection, cultivation best practices), and market information (market

prices, market demand, and logistics). "There are an estimated 127.3 million

'cultivators' in India. The majority of them are farmers subsisting on small plots

of land less than 5 acres in size....A national survey of farmers found that only

40% of farmer households accessed information about modern agricultural

techniques and inputs."

Farmers require access to a wide-range of accurate information. The report

explains, "Of this range of information requirements, we found that small

farmers prioritized weather, plant protection (disease/pest remediation), seed

information and market prices as the most important. In Uttar Pradesh and

Rajasthan, close to 90% of farmers reported seed information as the highest

priority while over 70% cited market prices as the most important category."

There are a few mobile-enabled information services available to farmers in

India. The Vodaphone report evaluated two mobile services targeting farmers,

IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL) and Reuters Market Light (RML). IKSL

delivers five free voice messages daily with weather information, crop/animal

husbandry advisory, market prices, fertiliser availability, electricity timings,

and government schemes. A helpline is available at Rs. 1/minute.

RML delivers four daily SMS-text messages containing weather information,

crop-advisory, market price (2 crops and 3 markets of choice), and news

(commodity specific and general - occasionally includes market demand

estimates). There are a few subscription options: Rs. 175 for a three month

package, Rs. 350 for six months, and Rs. 650 for one year.

With respect to the impact mobile phones have on India's agriculture sector,

the report found the following conclusions:

• Customization and frequent updating add substantial value. Generic

information triggers dissatisfaction and reduces the frequency with

 which farmers access the service. The most frequent criticism we heard

was that information was old and routine.

• Secondly, where literacy concerns are not paramount, text messaging

offers significant advantages over voice-based delivery in terms of

convenience and content flexibility.

• Finally, information should be in the local language and any platform

should be intuitive for subscribers to understand. Most of the farmers we

interviewed were prepared to pay for information services as long as

they felt that they would get the information they wanted – relevant,

timely and reliable.

Legal Effects:-

The legal aspects also account for the consideration in the various

sectors of the country. The need of the hour is to have a check on the

various needs of the sectors and renew them as per the need. The

agriculture has brought itself in the sector of globalization and

liberalization which is discussed briefly.

Many economists now concede that the relationship between liberalization and

growth are 'uncertain at best'. According to the Center for Economic and Policy

research, which studied impact of liberalization reforms on the developing world,

key economic and social indicators such as increases in life expectancy, infant

and child mortality, education and literacy levels slowed down in the 20 years
between 1980 and 2000 when liberalization policies were implemented,

compared to the 20 years leading to 1980. (The damage done, 2005) This

defeats the economic rationalist argument of free trade eliminating poverty, since

the 20 years leading up to 1980 witnessed high protectionist policies and trade

barriers. Following the suicides in 2000, the World Bank and Britain's DFID

abandoned power reforms in Andhra Pradesh four years before schedule. It

admitted that it had 'substantially underestimated' the 'complexity of the process'

and that there must be 'increased consultation with the farmers to get their

acceptance' of any further reform.

The Andhra Pradesh government sponsored report by the Commission of

Farmer's Welfare squarely laid the blame for its agrarian crisis on the state and

central government's policies: "While the causes of this crisis are complex and

manifold, they are they are dominantly related to public policy. The economic

strategy of the past decade at both central government and state government

levels has systematically reduced the protection afforded to farmers and exposed

them to market volatility and private profiteering without adequate regulation; has

reduced critical forms of public expenditure; has destroyed important public

institutions, and has not adequately generated other non-agricultural economic

activities." A report on suicides in Kerala similarly held the liberalization policies

of the government responsible. (Mohankumar & Sharma, 2006).

It is clear that the liberalization policies adopted by the government of India

played a dominant role in the agrarian crisis that is now being played out.
However, this is not to say that privatization, liberalization and globalization are

per say bad, or inherently inimical to an economy. It is the 'one size fits all' brand

of liberalization adopted by the IMF and the World Bank which forces countries to

privatize, liberalize and globalize without exception which has failed. Without

taking into account the state of an economy, and in this case, the state and

nature of the agricultural sector in India, the IMF and the World Bank, with the

cooperation of the Indian government, embarked on mismatched reforms, which

have caused misery and despair among millions of Indian farmers, driving large

numbers of them to suicide. It is also essential to break the link between aid and

liberalization, which caused India in the first place to accept the conditions of the

IMF. Remember that India was on the brink of a financial crisis in 1991 when it

applied for the IMF loan and accepted its conditions-perhaps the course of

economic reform in India would have taken a very different course if there was no

urgent need to borrow from the IMF. The start to this process may have already

occurred: recognizing the failure of its liberalization policies, (and perhaps also

the failure of DFID with AP's power reforms) the Blair government of Britain

announced in 2004 that it will no longer make liberalization and privatization

conditions of aid. In another blow to the neo-liberal lobby, Chandrababu Naidu

suffered the worst ever defeat in the 2004 state elections in his party's history,

with rural AP clearly rejecting his brand of World Bank sponsored liberalization.

The battle, however, has not yet been won. It is essential for the rest of the G8 to

follow Britain's example in order to influence World Bank and IMF policy towards
India to ensure blind liberalization is not pursued, and so that countries like India

can adopt tailor-made reforms to suit their economy

Legal Effects:-

The legal aspects also account for the consideration in the various

sectors of the country. The need of the hour is to have a check on the

various needs of the sectors and renew them as per the need. The

agriculture has brought itself in the sector of globalization and

liberalization which is discussed briefly.

Many economists now concede that the relationship between liberalization and

growth are 'uncertain at best'. According to the Center for Economic and Policy

research, which studied impact of liberalization reforms on the developing world,

key economic and social indicators such as increases in life expectancy, infant

and child mortality, education and literacy levels slowed down in the 20 years

between 1980 and 2000 when liberalization policies were implemented,

compared to the 20 years leading to 1980. (The damage done, 2005) This

defeats the economic rationalist argument of free trade eliminating poverty, since

the 20 years leading up to 1980 witnessed high protectionist policies and trade

barriers. Following the suicides in 2000, the World Bank and Britain's DFID

abandoned power reforms in Andhra Pradesh four years before schedule. It

admitted that it had 'substantially underestimated' the 'complexity of the process'

and that there must be 'increased consultation with the farmers to get their

acceptance' of any further reform.

The Andhra Pradesh government sponsored report by the Commission of

Farmer's Welfare squarely laid the blame for its agrarian crisis on the state and

central government's policies: "While the causes of this crisis are complex and

manifold, they are they are dominantly related to public policy. The economic

strategy of the past decade at both central government and state government

levels has systematically reduced the protection afforded to farmers and exposed

them to market volatility and private profiteering without adequate regulation; has

reduced critical forms of public expenditure; has destroyed important public

institutions, and has not adequately generated other non-agricultural economic

activities." A report on suicides in Kerala similarly held the liberalization policies

of the government responsible. (Mohankumar & Sharma, 2006).

It is clear that the liberalization policies adopted by the government of India

played a dominant role in the agrarian crisis that is now being played out.

However, this is not to say that privatization, liberalization and globalization are

per say bad, or inherently inimical to an economy. It is the 'one size fits all' brand

of liberalization adopted by the IMF and the World Bank which forces countries to

privatize, liberalize and globalize without exception which has failed. Without

taking into account the state of an economy, and in this case, the state and

nature of the agricultural sector in India, the IMF and the World Bank, with the

cooperation of the Indian government, embarked on mismatched reforms, which

have caused misery and despair among millions of Indian farmers, driving large

numbers of them to suicide. It is also essential to break the link between aid and

liberalization, which caused India in the first place to accept the conditions of the
IMF. Remember that India was on the brink of a financial crisis in 1991 when it

applied for the IMF loan and accepted its conditions-perhaps the course of

economic reform in India would have taken a very different course if there was no

urgent need to borrow from the IMF. The start to this process may have already

occurred: recognizing the failure of its liberalization policies, (and perhaps also

the failure of DFID with AP's power reforms) the Blair government of Britain

announced in 2004 that it will no longer make liberalization and privatization

conditions of aid. In another blow to the neo-liberal lobby, Chandrababu Naidu

suffered the worst ever defeat in the 2004 state elections in his party's history,

with rural AP clearly rejecting his brand of World Bank sponsored liberalization.

The battle, however, has not yet been won. It is essential for the rest of the G8 to

follow Britain's example in order to influence World Bank and IMF policy towards

India to ensure blind liberalization is not pursued, and so that countries like India

can adopt tailor-made reforms to suit their economy

Ecological Effects: -

In the modern day world the most important aspect that needs to be taken care

of is the ecology and the environment. The degrading environmental condition

has led to the various problems of health and other related problems. So this

becomes the prime responsibility to look after the environment and take optimum

care.
Agriculture does not just have to do with the food that ends up in your grocery

store and that you eventually eat. Pollution of our air, land and water is very

noticeable when it comes from transportation and industry, but the contributions

of agriculture to this problem are also important.

The development of agriculture has been central to the advancement of human

civilization. Its practice forced humans to form settled communities with divisions

of labor and practices different from those of hunting and gathering. Since the

first attempts at agriculture humans have been impacting and controlling the land

and water. Since the the first burning of crops agriculture has had an impact on

the atmosphere. In many ways agriculture is still as central to human survival and

living as it was at the beginning. However, we often tend to take for granted the

dynamics of agriculture practices and how much agriculture practices impact the

quality of our health, land, water, and air.

Two of the most serious and broad ranging environmental issues regarding

agriculture are the greenhouse effect and pollution from fertilizers. Greenhouse

gases and fertilizers are the two most important classes of chemicals released to

the environment because of agriculture. The main focus of this website is to

discuss how and why these chemicals are released and what solutions to

mitigate their negative effects have been developed.

We might call this the Age of the Recognition of Limits. A generation ago, the

energy reserves that fueled the extractive economy were seen to be the primary

limits affecting human progress in every endeavor, including agriculture.

American scientists and policymakers alike were comfortable in their belief that

these acknowledged finite reserves were large enough to buy the time necessary

to bring the peaceful atom on line. It isn't that renewable resources were ignored.

Americans did worry about the consequences of soil erosion and water pollution,

of course, but there was a nearly full confidence in the technical fix for problems

in the renewable sector of the economy. For agriculture, this meant that terraces,

grass waterways, and proper incentives would take care of erosion. Simple

solutions like indoor plumbing and chlorine in our drinking water would handle the

water problem. And as for this nonsense about pesticides, Rachel Carson was

just a hysterical extremist who was not an expert. The attitude about commercial

fertilizers was that "nitrogen is nitrogen" and "plants don't care whether it comes

from an anhydrous ammonia tank or from the nodule of a legume." And besides

that, "We must feed the world." We had a sense of the heroic urge in us. It was

also an era in which "hard-headed realism" was a favorite expression. But as

author Wendell Berry has said, "A hard-headed realist is usually a person who

uses a lot less information than is available." We have more information now than

a generation ago, and the public is better informed.

The "problem of agriculture" is as old as agriculture itself, and although the core

of the problem has always been soil erosion, new problems have been added.

The high-energy epoch that fueled industry, which in turn made the

industrialization of agriculture possible, simply exacerbated the old problems in

agriculture and added more besides. And so we are dealing with an old subject

with new data and the need for a fresh approach in our search for solutions. We
will consider these problems one at a time even though they are inextricably

intertwined.

Human diseases have also increased with the widespread use of irrigation,

especially water-transmissible diseases such as malaria and schistosomiasis.

The aquatic snail that transmits schistosomiasis inhabits sluggish waters

common in irrigation projects, and schistosomiasis is now estimated to affect 200

million people in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and South America. The disease

has reached its current levels with the construction of irrigation projects. In the

Gezira project in the Sudan, for example, the incidence of the disease increased

almost 50 percent in a 20-year period after the expansion of the irrigation project

in 1950.

Although irrigation in arid areas cannot be totally abandoned, we need to realize

that water is a limited resource and that the arid ecosystems are fragile.

Upgrading irrigation systems will ameliorate some of the problems outlined

above. Instead of financing massive water-diversion projects, improving irrigation

efficiencies can free water for other demands. Lining canals, reusing water

runoff, and increasing the efficiency of flood and furrow systems can save

enormous quantities of water.

Despite the above chronicle of ecological disasters that attend it, agriculture is

still potentially a renewable enterprise. In a certain sense, nothing is new here. In

every century for 10,000 years on almost every agricultural acre in the world,

ecological capital has slipped seaward from its wilderness-built home or been
degraded by toxic materials. Still, on a global scale, agriculture is seen as

potentially renewable and therefore as fundamentally different from the industrial

sector of society. It is only in the last 50 years, with the expansion of industry and

the chemicalization of agriculture, that the inherently extractive economy has

acted as though the renewable resources that support agriculture are fair targets

for exploitation in industrial terms. That is what makes the modern era different.

That is what makes the current agricultural economy more brittle than almost any

agricultural economy in history. It is hard for us to see this, perhaps, because it is

hard for us to imagine our energy and aquifer mines lying hollow. It is hard for us

to believe that our well water and air, our pleasingly packaged food, and our

perfect produce could contain invisible poisons. It is hard for us to grasp the

value of genetic diversity or to foresee the consequences of rampant extinctions.

It is hard for us to believe that we may one day come to the end of our magical

ability to produce everhigher-yielding crops. It is hard for us to comprehend the

total loss of our vast tropical forests or to anticipate the climatic changes when

the earth's belly is belted in barren, sterile soils rather than the green, moist

vegetation. It is hard for us to imagine a world where ancient salts sterilize the

land and young chemical pesticides and fertilizers lie below our agricultural

surfaces like demons in quiet prisons of degraded soil.

The outlook is not entirely bleak, for solutions to all these problems lie in lessons

we have learned and can still learn from nature. If we turn our attention away

from the extractive industrial model and begin to focus on nature's models of

productive ecosystems as our guide for agricultural systems, we may yet see
truly sustainable agriculture emerging. It isn't that nature learns faster than

humans. It is just that she has been at it longer.