India’s agricultural policy should shift

its focus from price support to

productivity improvement. Discuss.
India being the country of agriculture( 50% people employed in the agriculture sector) needs
robust, significant & relevant measures. The focus needs to shift from price support to
productivity improvement:-

* Increasing Minimum Support Price of the crops can not suffice the agrarian crisis, which
has resulted into suicides of several farmers in Maharashtra, Gujarat etc. 
* Price support is a temporary measure. In MP it was seen that the MSP of about 12 crops
was increased but the govt procurement was done of only 2-3 major crips.
* Productivity enhancement,logistics support & supply chain can only alleviate the problem 
* Loan waivers also not feasible as they put burden on bank credibility & fiscal discipline of
the govt
* Due tonka lack of supply chain, even the procured crips get wasted- causing food security
problem

WAY FORWARD:-
* Robust irrigation facilities - PM.KSY in right direction- encouraging farmers to use water
saving irrigation techniques like drip, sprinkle etc
* Robust cold chain storage channel, supply chain to protect vegetables, fruits etc from
getting wasted & use then in preparing packaged& processed food. SAMPADA needs to be
strengthened.
* Seed bank, GM crops,,kisan credit cards, soil health card, robust weather forecasting
* Spending funds on R*D in monsoon forecasting so that the farmers can take right action &
policies like crop diversification etc 
* Use of satellites, big data etc to maintain various agriculture & climate records & their
dissemination
* Corporate farming, agro-forestry, FDI in cold chain logistics support are helpful in
increasing productivity

The above measures can be taken to increase agricultural productivity. Moreover e-NAM &
APMC needs to be overhauled in order to attract more farmers so that they can get right
remuneration.