Also: This talk has been uploaded here (http://decipherias.com/rstv-the-big-picture-state-of-agriculture-and-rural-economy/) with summary and following conclusion.
Conclusion :
- The extent of government intervention in agriculture is still a matter of debate within the economists but there is a broad consensus that such interventions must prioritise investments which lead to sustainable long-run growth over subsidies which offer short-term fixes.
- Among all the economic sector agriculture is most undeveloped. Agriculture sector strongly needs reform in its policies to increase productivity of land. There is a need to shift heavy public investment to modernise this sector. Price mechanism and market structure should be reviewed and there is a need to establish provisions to eliminate the middleman, which eats up all possible profit of farmers.
- Although the Agriculture minister remains positive about India being on the road to achieve 4% growth in agriculture, but the challenges are manifold. Today , agriculture needs a strategy that will be broken down to the last level which is the village level. The issues at district level also need to be prioritised and then efforts should be made for their resolution.
- What the agriculture sector needs today is a renaissance, to rebuild the agriculture sector.
