Can agriculture be profitable in India? This is not a joke

Can agriculture be profitable in India? 

Can agriculture be profitable in India? This is not a joke

Can agriculture be profitable in India? It's really no joke. There are some possibilities and innovative thinking that are very easy to implement without a lot of investment. In addition, you don’t have to depend on the government or agricultural agencies or the livestock department or NABARD because they help the survival of poor farmers only and not agricultural growth. They cannot help to young entrepreneurs.

Not all these government agencies and programs are useful for transforming the agricultural sector. Most people don't know either, and when some young entrepreneurs want to invest in agriculture, the formalities and interest rates of bank loans keep them out, then they start to hate after getting upset.

Can you expect agricultural growth, a real transformation of Indian agriculture from 650 million farmers, each making less than 3,500 to 4,000 rupees a month, and doing backbreaking work every day, living in small houses without electricity and waterless in India.

Most livestock farms are at a loss and no one wants to invest more. Most farmers still practice traditional crops like millet, wheat, cotton, legumes, onion, sugar cane, rice, vegetables, etc. .

In India there are many inequalities, not all farmers succeed, some thrive, but some have huge debts and suffer many losses. Very few farmers have an organic farm, a rice field, a polyhouse/polytunnel, a vineyard, a greenhouse and even a poultry farm, all farmers are not able to live on agriculture alone, they have another source of income for example, farmers who grow paddy only group wafers during the rainy season and the rest of the time they have worked as laborers because they are not able to support themselves only by the closed. Another farmer, for example the vineyard, cannot depend solely on the southern gates for money, so they invest in making a poly house and now the poly house is a plant nursery. Often, they sell these plants to their customers as a second source of income and sometimes they use them for their own agricultural purposes.

Farmers are unable to make a living from farming; good irrigation is very expensive and not all farmers can afford it. There is no ease in conserving water, there is unavailability of agricultural water and most farmers depend on rain to water their crops. But nobody can control the climate and the rain is unpredictable, most of the time the rain spoils the harvest or because there is no rain, the crop whistles.

But irrigation and soil are not the only things, for example, nowadays labor is expensive and not all farmers can afford it. In addition, these farmers can only cultivate when they have electricity and water, so that electricity and water arrive at midnight or early in the morning around 3:00 am, they have to get up and go to work in the field at 2:30 am. what a joke and really it's disgusting.

Another problem is that farmers are unable to sell their produce directly on a wholesale market and then forget about exporting. The word "export" is like studying the universe for farmers. The traders buy the products from the farmers at a very cheap price, then they sell them in fantastic packaging and earn 3 times more than the farmers. Likewise, many Indian farmers are heavily indebted and have suffered many losses.

Barriers to agricultural development in India

Here are the main obstacles to agricultural development in India

Lack of investment program for new investors

Most farmers are so poor and fight only for their survival. therefore, they cannot invest in new agricultural technologies and adopt modern farming. The government wants to support them for the introduction of several plans, but plans are not for their growth, they only help them survive. There are no solid plans to motivate young investors in agriculture.

High interest rate on bank loans

There are very few plans offering grants with a lower interest rate, that is. 4 to 5% for very poor farmers to obtain a crop loan. It is for a limited period ie. for one year. The amount is negligible, i.e. up to 1 lakh. This only for survival and not for growth.

If you want to invest in a farming business as a young entrepreneur, you will get a farm loan with an interest rate of 12 to 13%. The bank will refuse to approve the loan at the first approach and if you insist more, they will ask for too many documents, including security, land documents, farming experience, etc.

Lack of awareness of the government regime

All the plans are on paper, very few people are aware of it and the farmers negligible. The Department of Agriculture and the Department of Livestock are not making an effort to raise awareness among farmers and peoples. Even when you approach them, they will not guide you properly.

Lack of use of technical aids in agriculture

The first problem is knowledge, and another is financial support. You can get knowledge from any source, if you are passionate but without financial support, the adoption of technology in agriculture is just a dream. Most people buy only tractors, which is a basic need for agriculture, then forget about other irrigation techniques such as drip water irrigation, indoor vertical farming, automation agricultural, livestock technology, modern greenhouses, precision farming, genetic manipulation, intensive plowing, monoculture, organic farming, etc.

Even if you want to buy the tractor on a farm loan, the interest is higher than the personal loan. 13%. Second, maintenance and fuel are not affordable for a normal farmer.

Dependence on rainwater

Most farmers depend only on rainwater because there is no water conservation facility and the unavailability of agricultural water. The government has some plans for borewell. It is limited and cannot be used for irrigation.

Even the use of groundwater is bad for the environment because it is responsible for the collapse and compaction of the soil, the salt water replacing the fresh water in the coastal area has resulted in soil contamination, impacting the river and the ponds, etc.

Unavailability of electricity

Most of the villages are not regularly supplied with electricity, they cannot irrigate their farm in a timely manner. In many areas, the power supply is limited during certain hours and when it receives, they receive electricity in the middle of the night.

Limited land ownership

Now most farmers do not own more than 2 acres of land, so why are they investing or adopting technology for this limited land without any financial support from the government.

Lack of government export assistance

There is no facility in most regions to export agricultural products. Farmers are unfamiliar with exports and no government agency can guide them.

Other barriers in Indian agriculture

Mentality: most Indians still think that the agricultural domain is reserved for the poor.

Agriculture is not yet considered a business.

No one wants to invest in agriculture because there is no single government program to promote young entrepreneurs.

Most government programs are intended only for the survival of poor farmers and not for growth.

All plans are limited to a certain (negligible) amount of funding, as it is still not treated as a business.

The use of modern science and technology is still limited as there is no financial support from the government.

The banking system and the government do not support the growth of agriculture. Farm loans are more expensive than personal and home loans.

Level of education: lack of knowledge about modern agriculture

Agricultural agencies are unable to spread awareness of government programs and real awareness of modern agricultural technologies.

Gram-Panchayts are not effective

People are too much dependent on government regimes

No one wants to invest in agriculture considering it a business

How can we transform agriculture using technology in India?

Who will improve technology, who will invest in improvement, Is it social service, how many people are ready to serve agriculture, especially to poor farmers, What is the percentage of poor farmers in India. whether poor farmers can adopt modern technology, if young entrepreneur want to invest in agriculture in large amount, whether he is getting finance support??????

What are government programs to improve the growth of agriculture, how many are aware of it and how many are benefiting from it.

#Are these agricultural schemes intended for growth or survival. If all these plans for the farmer's survival, then how can you expect agricultural growth?

The understanding in India of the use of technology is limited to the tractor only. Ok again how many farmers can buy and maintain a tractor, forget irrigation, the greenhouse, organic farming, and the use of hybrid crops with different harvesting machines.

What is the amount of financial help really getting by farmers for irrigation techniques, tractors, harvester, transportation, exporting, adopting hybrid crop, etc.

What needs to be done to make agriculture profitable for more farmers in India?

This is really challenging but not impossible, it requires joint effort, passion, and partnership.

Here are the plans to make the agriculture profitable

Do not depend on the government. fully, even 1%. government programs are only for survival and not for transformation. they don't care about your growth.

Be confident, gain knowledge, contact agricultural agencies to gather information and experience.

Do not depend on the Department of Agriculture and Livestock to spread awareness, this is your need, so you need to approach them.

Promote export, help medium to large farmers to export. many farmers can come together to manage the export. unity has strength.

Encourage rainwater harvesting, be united, do not depend on the government. they are useless and work only for politics.

Treat farming like a business, prepare a contingent business plan to minimize the loss and business plan for profit.

Agriculture can be done in partnership rather than individually, it will contribute to marketing and better management of the fields.

Use all the waste and convert it into fertilizer

Start investing / adopting technology in partnership, so that the financial burden on individuals can be minimized.

Gram Panchayat, can raise funds and maintain agricultural machinery for the whole village. Gram Panchayat can takeover charge of all government land in their area and convert it into ponds or other water harvesting project, as all government land is Barren land, Gram Panchayat can do this forcefully.

Don’t depend on veterinary, you can learn how to vaccinate your animals, it is not a rocket science.

Develop storing or preserving facility in partnership, because now, agriculture is not individual business.

There are several ideas, but all are ideal and difficult to implement in this political world. So be positive, don’t depend on government, come together and start agriculture business jointly hand in hand then only you can bring the agriculture business in profit in India.