Our farm population is increasing annually with the result average farm size is becoming smaller each year and the cost - risk - return structure of farming is becoming adverse, with the result farmers are getting increasingly indebted. Marketing infrastructure is generally poor, particularly in perishable commodities. Poverty - hunger - malnutrition nexus is prevailing all over the country. Though India has made consistent progress towards food self sufficiency with a record production of 259 million tonnes (mt) in 2011-12, in spite significant improvement in agriculture and allied sector, the fact lies that low production and low productivity are at the core of agricultural problems in India. There is considerable variation in productivity levels of various districts across and within the states. About 60% of the gross cropped area is still rainf ed and the potential of rainf ed areas has not yet been fully utilized. The large yield gaps indicate that crop output can be substantially raised through effective dissemination and adoption of improved technologies, especially in the eastern Gangetic plains. Balanced fertilisation has been affected by the heavy subsidy given to urea-based fertilisers. The deficiencies of secondary and micronutrients are not being addressed seriously resulting multi-nutrient deficiencies all over the country. The existing socio-economic, infrastructure and institutional constraints, which are responsible for these gaps, need to be addressed and alleviated by evolving appropriate eco-regional and need-based strategies. Greater emphasis has to be on collective farming, contract farming and corporate farming to reap the benefits of economies of scale and linking farmers to processing industries or retailers/consumers, market oriented production, post harvest management at farm level and strengthening marketing infrastructure.
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