A Promising Year in Store for Indian Agricultural Industry

Magazine

By: Biplab Chakravarty | Wednesday, 16 October 2019

India has for long relied on the agro-industry for its growth. The antecedents of agriculture can be traced back to thousands of years ago. For a significant lot, agriculture remains the basic source of livelihood. The techniques and methods involved in farming evolved over the years, and there is an enormous prospect in the agricultural sector in the years to come. This sector is expected to grow at an approximate rate of two percent on a year on year (YOY) basis. Therefore, being one of the key economic driver agriculture should adapt to the challenges that it is encountering today. This makes the imbibing modern technologies crucial as agriculture is one of the key economic drivers in India.

Indian agriculture still relies to a large extent on obsolete and conventional methods. Due to lack of technical knowledge, poor irrigation facilities and insufficient credit for capital have hampered the growth of this sector. But with the digital disruption taking over the economy, many stakeholders have realized that thriving of this sector depends on the digital innovation in this segment. It is expected that this year will probably many changes in policies, infrastructure development, supply chain management and technology enablement of areas such as quality, traceability, logistics, distribution digital lending and other areas of the value chain.

The government in its budget of 2018-19 announced

‘Operations Greens,’ in which it put forward schemes
for farmers worth INR 500 crore. The fund was promoted to Farmer Producers Organizations (FPOs), agri-logistics, processing facilities, and professional management. Also, a separate scheme for
the development of tomato, onion, and potato (TOP) was mentioned. Another important aspect that should be considered in the development of inventories for storing and movement of perishable items. At present, the cold chain network is not optimally managed and operates on weak efficiencies.
One of the most important issues that need to be addressed is the availability of ample water supply. Agriculture consumes almost 60 percent of the available water resources. But despite this, less than half of the agricultural land is irrigated. Therefore, to bring more areas under irrigation the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sichai Yojana (PMKSY) was introduced. Many other initiatives like watershed management, water conservation, drip irrigation and establishment of water user association can bolster this sector.

The whole world is reeling under the effect of global warming. There are some serious concerns about its effect on agriculture. Repercussions are ranging from draught to over flooding of lands. Therefore, the focus this year will be on chalking out strategies to overcome the challenges of climate change; early warning systems of floods and other agricultural hazards will be implemented.
The FPO which is an entity formed by primary producers like farmers, dairy owners, fisherman, weavers, rural artisans and craftsmen to ensure the better income of this group. Taking advantage of this scheme more farmers can be connected which will prove to be a good initiative to provide them with business security. Many other issues will also be addressed like insurance policies, financial assistance, methods of crop management and others.
The government is also looking forward to increasing the export of agricultural products. Increasing export will diversify the agricultural operations which will result in more employment generation and will boost India’s overall share in trade.

Therefore, prospects are high for the Indian agriculture industry in 2019 as it is in a great position not only to develop agriculture but also to other sub-sectors which depends on manpower on its growth. Leveraging the right mixture of technology and the right skill can enable this sector to reap most out of this sector.