Agriculture The Pride of Our Nation
Agriculture is a story that started thousands of years ago and continues to evolve today! Agriculture refers to the practice of cultivating plants and rearing livestock. Agriculture is an integral part of the crop growing process and the food we consume. It is the critical development that leads to the rise of sedentary human civilization. The origin of agriculture started thousands of years ago. To keep the practice of agriculture sustainable and effective, we observe some NGO supporting agriculture.
Origin of Agriculture It is believed by scientists that agriculture was at first started in the region of the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East. This region was home to several edible and easily cultivated crops that are wheat and barley among the cereal crops, lentils, peas, and chickpeas among fruits and vegetables. This was to overcome the prevalent food challenges. Agriculture developed at an independent pace in several parts of Mexico and Peru, north and south China, and Africa. In ancient times, the Mediterranean Sea was crossed by ships carrying spices, wine, olive oil, and grains. The Annona reached impressive dimensions by the start of 350 B.C.E. Ngo working in the agriculture sector has further helped the agricultural practices gain momentum.
Importance Agriculture 1. Source of Livelihood The economic growth of India in the financial year 2018 is expected to see a rise to 6.75 percent in 2018 on an enhanced performance basis in both industry and services. India is the world's sixth-largest economy and has the third-largest purchasing power. Therefore, even today, after years of agricultural origin, agriculture continues to be India's largest source of livelihood. Around 70 percent of the rural households in India still depend mainly on agriculture for their livelihood; India is the largest producer of milk, jute, and pulses, and with second-largest in the cattle population. It is the second-largest producer of cereals and grains like rice, wheat, sugarcane and groundnuts. It leads the world's fruit and vegetable production also. India has successfully worked on areas of improving nutrition, increasing incomes of farming households, diversifying the extent of production of crops, providing employment opportunities to women, strengthening agricultural diversity and productivity, and introducing careful price strategy and subsidy policies. Diversification of farming livelihoods has taken place in the form of animal farming, forestry, and fisheries. These have enhanced livelihood opportunities, strengthened resilient frameworks, and led to a considerable increase in labour force participation in the sector. 2. Creates surplus With a rise in urbanization and income rise, food expenditures have seen a decline in the share of total spending. Good agricultural practices help in providing a better yielding capacity, and this helps produce more, and the extra grains are stored in proper storage areas. They can be used at natural calamities like floods, tsunamis, and droughts. 3. Boosts GDP Do you know that the share of agriculture in the gross domestic product (GDP) has touched almost 20% in the past 17 years, according to the Economic Survey 2020-2021? Agriculture has shifted its traditional methods and switched towards modern techniques. The surplus food grains helped in making India an independent country.
Techniques of Agriculture 1. Permaculture Permaculture is about making agriculture fixed at a particular place or land. It is a combination of two words - Permanent and Agriculture. It is a system for designing agricultural land without the use of chemicals and machinery. Permaculture could make land fertile and increase crop production.
Permaculture runs on a natural farming basis only. The products that are used in farming are naturally prepared. For example, water management in the form of rainwater harvesting, natural fertilizers, compost, and pesticides. 2. Bio-floc Fish Farming It is a way of fish farming that is proved to be more profitable than others available, like open pond fish farming. In this method, waste material left by the fish, in the form of Ammonia, Nitrate, and Nitrite, can be converted into a nutrient-rich feed. It is a sustainable and eco-friendly process, and it can be ideally practiced in a large tank. The idea behind this technique is to recycle nutrients. The biofloc approach helps in the cleaning of culture water of the fish and at the same time provides an additional source of feed. 3. Hydroponics Hydroponics refers to growing plants in water without the use of soil. Numerous foods we consume at present, like tomato and even lettuce, are grown through hydroponics in many places. It can be practiced in homes, rooftops, rooms. People who have indulged in hydroponics are earning sufficient good money. The good thing is the majority of them are not rural farmers, and they are people living in metropolitan and urban cities. Many NGOs supporting agriculture have claimed this technique to be a smarter one. There are many successful hydroponics growers in India as well. One can research the internet and check how this technique has speeded up the farming arena.
Changes in Agriculture The sector of agriculture and farming has experienced some new changes in the past few years. It has increased the efficiency and outcome quantity of the grown crops. Innovations and better seed utility had been another integral element. To foster the growth of agriculture, we need to make farmers more aware. The majority of the farmers have absolutely none or very little knowledge about the upcoming farming technologies. In the above scenario, the government can advertise the adopted new techniques loud enough so that they could be spread wide enough. This would help farmers get a better income output in the long run and would be done with fewer efforts and fewer resources. So, even with the introduction of new technology in the agricultural sector, the farmer suicide rate has not come to an end. These steps are further aided by various NGOs working for farmers. To give a halt to these issues, the government needs to be more active so that the benefits of new technologies are experienced by all.
Agriculture and Government
When we look at the field of Agriculture, it is a State Subject. Due to the same reason, the government has been working to help and deliver better plans for agriculture. Both Central and State governments frame specific schemes and needful reforms for the sector of agriculture. Here are a few governmental initiatives to boost up and expand the agricultural sector. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Unprecedented enhancement in budget allocation Fixing of MSP at one-and-a-half times the cost of production Increase in procurement from farmers Income support to farmers through PM KISAN Pradhan Mantri Fasal BimaYojana (PMFBY) Institutional credit for the agriculture sector Providing Soil Health Cards to farmers Promotion of organic farming in the country Neem Coating of Urea
WOTR and Agriculture Various factors like climate change, ecosystem degradation, and over-dependence on agriculture have affected the productivity of this sector. But NGOs supporting agriculture like WOTR have taken steps to aid farmers and rural households. WOTR has focused upon those rainfed lands which do not deliver 100 per cent agriculture productivity. They aim to make farming a natural friendly practice and at the same time provide several different kinds of approaches like the Ecosystem-based approach to create a difference in the farming sector. This ngo working in agriculture sector has been a ray of hope and a point of positive transformation for many!.