Indian agriculture problems and Solutions

Indian Farming Status

Indian farming is largely small holder based with not only small land holdings but also livestock holdings. A large part of India’s rural population, more than 60 per cent of the rural population, is “landless” or with very marginal holding of less than a hectare and yet considered “farming”. This population of “landless and marginal farmers” also have farm and non-farm occupations that supplement incomes and also barter labor for farming and other resources which includes food, fuel and feed and fodder for their livestock. Dryland agriculture is practiced on almost two thirds of all arable land in India. Dryland agriculture also supports 40 per cent of India’s population.

Agricultural development is one of the most talked about issues as a major portion of our population is still engaged with the agricultural industry.The prime economic objective of agricultural development is to contribute to increased per capita Over the years Government of India has tried to promote agricultural development. With their many initiatives Government of India have tried to convince farmers so that they can adopt modern techniques for the cultivation of their crops and most importantly for the improvement of production.Often their low level of education and lack of communication has resulted into a general lack of awareness regarding the modern research and inventions on agriculture.

Agriculture is the most extensive form of human occupation where half of the world's population earns its livelihood. Agricultural Geography, dealing with the spatial organisation of crops and their concentration, provides an interesting field in which geographers can play a vital role for well being of the society . The process of economic development inevitably entails effort to raise productivity in the agricultural sector so that not only a small working force can produce enough food for the rest of the society, but also to release a big chunk of its working hands to join the industrial sector. Thus raising agricultural productivity forms one of the most important tasks of most of the developing countries aiming at a quicker pace of economic development. In India, efforts have been made to raise agricultural productivity by raising more and more land under cultivation in its early decades of planned development. However, it is soon realised that emphasis has to be laid more on productivity than production. All out efforts were made to increase productivity of land by way of introducing improved varieties of seeds, mechanization and other modernized methods of cultivation popularly known as "Green Revolution" in the history of post-Independent India by the late sixties. But it was seen that the effects of Green Revolution were highly localised and in the large parts of the country, its impact was minimal.

Agriculture is the most dominant sector of the Indian economy and crop production occupies the most important part of the agriculture. The agricultural sector was most neglected during the colonial rule and immediately after the Independence food became the prime concern of the National Government and it became most necessary to pay attention to increase food production on a priority basis to feed the ever growing population of the country. Indian food production

Agriculture problems in India due to the following reasons ...

Too Many Intermediates Defective Weights and Scales Illiteracy and Lack of Unity among Lack of Financial Resources  Lack of Organised Marketing System Lack of Transport Facilities Lack of Store Houses Lack of Standardization Regulation of ‘Mandis’ Market Survey Grading and Standardization of Products lack of Awareness of the market Corrupt Policies of the ‘Mandis’ Distress Sale Lack of Market Intelligence Lack of Organization Poor quality of product ·       Problem of Produce collection

Problem of Soil

Soil problem is an important issue in farming. The fertility of soils is destroying day after day due to use of more chemical fertilizers.

Problem of Labour

Labour demand is adversely affected by the mechanisation process. Wage employment was gradually being displaced by the increased mechanisation of agriculture in the villages. The labor required for operating various activities relating to the major crops such as flower, potato, groundnut, betel leaf, sesame and guava declined over time. Besides, machines are also being used in other operations such as carrying, threshing etc

Problem of Capital

Finance is a problem among all farmers of the State. Thus, small farmers of the village do not get profit by potato cultivation. Sometimes they do not get good price by trading potato from the mahajon (local big trader.

Problem of Modern Agricultural Inputs

The modern agricultural inputs include high yielding improved seed varieties, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and weedicides. Recognizing the widespread availability of the chemical fertilizer, the farmers had been confronting problems such as availability of substandard fertilizer; their higher and unstable price; ignorance of farmers about the application of fertilizer, and fertilizer crisis. On the other hand it is observed that, availability of pesticides increased over time at the local level.

Environmental Problem

The environmental problem is mainly occurred by nature which mainly include problem of climate, disease and pest. Therefore, the environmental damages are seen in all cropping systems.

Problem of Production

Low production is now a problem among the all crop farmers.

Problems Related to Market

The market related problem include low price of produced crop in the market, price fluctuations, distance of the market, market saturation, insufficient profit, insufficient place of selling, informal-marketing-system, and export problem. At present, most of the farmers are facing problems due to fluctuating market price. In the competitive market economy, the farmers are not getting sufficient profit by selling their produced crop.

Instability:

Agriculture in India is largely depends on monsoon. As a result, production of food-grains fluctuates year after year. A year of abun­dant output of cereals is often followed by a year of acute shortage.

Cropping Pattern:

The crops that are grown in India are divided into two broad catego­ries: food crops and non-food crops. While the former comprise food-grains, sugarcane and other beverages, the latter includes different kinds of fibres and oilseeds.

 Land Ownership:

Although the owner­ship of agricultural land in India is fairly widely distributed, there is some degree of concentration of land holding. Inequality in land distribution is also due to the fact that there are frequent changes in land ownership in India. It is believed that large parcels of land in India are owned by a- relatively small section of the rich farmers, landlords and money-lenders, while the vast majority of farmers own very little amount of land, or no land at all.

Moreover, most holdings are small and uneco­nomic. So the advantages of large-scale farming cannot be derived and cost per unit with ‘uneco­nomic’ holdings is high, output per hectare is hec­tare is low. As a result peasants cannot generate sufficient marketable surplus. So they are not only poor but are often in debt.

 Sub-Division and Fragmentation of Hold­ing:

Due to the growth of population and break­down of the joint family system, there has occurred continuous sub-division of agricultural land into smaller and smaller plots. At times small farmers are forced to sell a portion of their land to repay their debt. This creates further sub-division of land.

 Land Tenure:

The land tenure system of India is also far from perfect. In the pre-independence period, most tenants suffered from insecurity of tenancy. They could be evicted any time. How­ever, various steps have been taken after Independ­ence to provide security of tenancy.

 Conditions of Agricultural Labourers:

The conditions of most agricultural labourers in India are far from satisfactory. There is also the problem of surplus labour or disguised unemploy­ment. This pushes the wage rates below the sub­sistence levels

Solutions

·       Eliminating Middlemen

·       Freedom from Moneylenders

·       Storage Facility

·       Bargaining Capacity

·       Regulated Markets

·       Adequate Transport Facility

·       Agricultural Marketing Societies

·       Market Intelligence

·       Use of Standard Weight

·       Loan Facilities

·       Publicity of Market Policies

·       Training Facilities

Reference and Sources

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313845567_Problems_of_Agricultural_Marketing_in_India

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320008572_Issues_and_Problems_in_Agricultural_Development_A_Study_on_the_Farmers_of_West_Bengal

http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload/312463/Future%20of%20Agriculture_India_ajm_170513.pdf

http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/61535/7/07_chapter%201.pdf

http://www.economicsdiscussion.net/agriculture/problems-agriculture/indian-agriculture-problems-7-major-problems-of-indian-agriculture/12859