The report on the State of Indian Agriculture placed by the Government to the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha, calls for wide-ranging reforms in agriculture sector to enable it to meet the growing demands and meet the challenges posed by various human and environmental factors. The first issue of State of Indian Agriculture series had been published by the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) in 2009.
The present report begins with a review of the status and performance of agriculture, especially during the last two decades, and also presents what could be the way forward, given our objectives of accelerated growth, inclusiveness and the reducing of poverty and hunger. As per the report, the significance of agriculture sector in India is not restricted to its contribution to GDP, but that on account of its complementarity with other sectors. It has far reaching ability to impact poverty alleviation and rural development. There are several areas of importance for the agriculture sector growth. These include, among others, enhancing public sector investment in research apart from effective transfer of technology along with institutional reforms in the research set up to make it more accountable and geared towards delivery, conservation of land, water and biological resources, the development of rainfed agriculture, the development of minor irrigation, timely and adequate availability of inputs, support for marketing infrastructure, an increase in flow of credit particularly to the small and marginal farmers.
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