‘Subsidies retard investments in agriculture’

New Delhi, Aug 26: DRASTIC reduction in subsidies, reorientation of investment and review of archaic laws are some of the steps to boost rural demand so as to meet an eight per cent GDP growth, an expert said on Sunday.

“The slowdown in technological development and the fall in public investment in agriculture in particular, are worrisome, even if private investment has been buoyant,” National Council of Applied Economic Research Director General Suman Bery said in a special publication on JRD Tata brought out by Assocham.

If these trends in public investment continue then it would be very difficult to realise the natural comparative advantage in the agricultural sector and raise the levels of income in rural India, he pointed out.

Investments in technology, input use efficiency and rural infrastructure are crucial for long-term growth of Indian agriculture, he said. Further, the shift in consumption pattern from cereals to non-cereals such as dairy products, fruits and vegetables suggests that the focus of agricultural research and investment in the rural sector would have to be reoriented in favour of regions which have the potential, Ms Bery said.

(PTI).