The Economic Survey presented on Monday stated that the Indian agriculture sector is not in a crisis now “but requires a serious structural transformation because climate change and water criticality loom large in the times to come”. Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran called for a pan-India dialogue on the agriculture sector.
The survey, presented ahead of the annual budget, emphasised that India has yet to fully leverage its agricultural sector for economic growth and job creation, unlike East Asian economies and Western developed nations.
Also Read
Here are key takeaways from the economic survey related to the agriculture sector:
- Over the last five years, the agriculture sector recorded an average annual growth rate of 4.18 per cent
- Livestock and fisheries are also showing promise with the former sector growing at CAGR of 7.38 per cent at constant prices in 2014-15 and 2023-24. While the fisheries grew at a compound annual rate of 8.9 per cent between 2014-15 and 2022-23
Also Read
- In order to enhance the adoption of technology, the government has taken initiatives like digital agriculture mission and e-National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) that aim to modernise agriculture
- In a bid to increase investments in agriculture, schemes like agriculture infrastructure fund have been launched. Moreover, the government has been trying to improve the extent of storage, thus it is implementing agriculture marketing infrastructure
- In order to aid the food processing sector, the government has taken several initiatives like Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY), Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industry (PLISFPI), and Prime Minister’s Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme, among others
- Incentives and schemes need to be explored which aim to improve market infrastructure, e-NAM, promoting FPOs, and allowing cooperatives to take part in agri-marketing can improve the market infrastructure and allow better price discovery