Viability of Small and Marginal Farmers in India: An Overview of Initiatives by the Governmentof Karnataka

摘要

Agriculture continues to be the mainstay for a majority of Indian population even in the present times of rapid changes taking place in industrial and service sectors. This primary sector still provides employment to about 58 per cent of the workforce, and has the responsibility of feeding a vast population, besides providing the basic raw materials to the manufacturing sector. However, the performance of the sector has been discouraging in recent times causing concern among policy makers about its very viability.. With the share of agricultural sector in the GDP persistently declining (presently, less than 15 per cent), the average annual growth of the sector during the last two decades was less than half (around 3 per cent) of the overall averagegrowth of the economy (6-7 per cent). The dismal performance of the sector could be traced back to a host of causes such ai predominance of dry land farming, deple'Ng soil fertility, declining growth in public investment for agricultural R&D, spurious quality inputs, small sized holdings, credit constraints etc.