Chaitanya AwasthiAIR 37 · CSE 2022 · 346 wordsTheir whole copy
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Agriculture is the backbone of Indian society and economy. However, despite employing nearly 48% of the population it contributes a mere 17% to GDP.
Acknowledging its shortcomings as well as its importance in poverty alleviation and overall development of country, government introduced several schemes like PM-KISAN, Operation Greens - TOTAL, SAMPADA, Mega Food Park etc. aiming at doubling farmer's income.
However, these schemes needs to be coupled with diversification and innovation for realizing the said objective.
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Backward Linkages
- Crop Diversification → revitalizes the fields with nutrients → better yields give additional income → Nutritional security and water conservation by moving away from crops like rice, wheat, sugarcane.
(2) Seeds ↳ Balance of traditional and High Yielding Varieties to for sustainable income eg. Pusa rice variety which can be directly sown.
(3) Fertilizers ↳ Diverse mix of organic and conventional ↳ Harnessing innovative products like Neem Coated Urea, Nano Urea Liquid which saves huge input cost.
(4) Irrigation & Power ↳ Drip irrigation, Sprinklers etc. conserve water ↳ Harnessing Solar Pumps (PM-KUSUM) and other innovative means of power generation which are cost and eco friendly.
(5) Labour & Farm Management ↳ Mechanization (Happy Seeder, Cultivators), Use of Drones for spraying pesticides etc. reduce input cost as well as free social capital to be effectively used elsewhere.
(6) Finance Diversification ↳ Access to formal credit saves from debt trap, high interest etc. ↳ Fintech and JAM trinity are innovative mechanisms of financial empowerment.
Forward Linkages
- MSP diversification → encourages crop diversification.
- e-NAM → harnessing technology for better market access and price discovery.
- Integration with Animal Husbandry → Complementarity of Pisciculture, livestock rearing etc. can create a virtuous cycle of reinforcements and additional income.
- Harnessing Innovation for cold storage and other associated infrastructure
- PUSA Bio Decomposer → aids sustainability and healthier fields.
- Ethanol Economy → Additional avenues for farmers
Close · a summary
These incentives in backward linkages would drastically cut costs of production whereas the innovations and diversification in forward linkages shall unlock the true potential and help realize the vision of Doubling Farmers' Income.