Pointing out that the funding by States on agriculture extension is getting reduced, Niti Aayog member Ramesh Chand sees an opportunity for the private sector to expand its footprint with digital technologies making the extension activities cheaper than earlier times when everything was done manually.

Addressing an event organised by industry body Assocham on Thursday, Chand said: “Every State is cutting expenditure on extension, R&D and rural infrastructure. There is a vacuum getting created. Private sector can start with advisories, though some companies are doing it, there is a need to scale it up.”

He also pointed out that the fertiliser use efficiency is 25-35 per cent now which can be enhanced to 75-90 per cent where private sector can play a role.

Modern farm inputs

Chand said that farmers in 6 per cent of total cultivable land area still do not use any modern farm inputs including chemical fertilisers or pesticides, whereas there are farms which are using very high tech farming. While those traditional farmers may remain in the system, the overall agriculture sector is poised for adopting modern technologies where private sector to play a greater role.

Stressing that India had an impressive growth -- per capita food production at 1.2 kg per day in 1970 has increased to 1.8 kg per day now, he said there will not be any problem to meet demand even if land productivity in India grows by 2 per cent as the population growth is projected at 0.8 per cent. India’s productivity has increased by 2.8 per cent CAGR in past 30-40 years, higher than global average of 2.5 per cent, he added.

However, the real challenge is the unforeseen consequences posed by climate change, which could derail the capacities to fight its adverse impacts, he said and added that agriculture is the only area which is contributing as well as getting impacted by climate change.

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