Though agriculture is a state subject, the Central government needed to trigger and engineer the reform agenda in the agriculture sector, said noted agriculturist Ashok Gulati.
Indian agriculture has the potential to grow at 5% per annum, while the present growth rate varied from 3.6% to 4% per annum, noted agriculturist Ashok Gulati said on Monday.
"The Indian agriculture has the potential to grow at 5% per annum in the present context against which the present growth rate varied from 3.6% to 4% per annum in real terms," Gulati said while addressing the Odisha Knowledge Hub (OKH) lecture series in Bhubaneswar.
While elaborating the link between agriculture growth and poverty reduction in national and international contexts, Gulati said higher growth rate in agriculture leads to faster rate of poverty reduction.
Comparing the nation's economy with a pyramid, he suggested putting agriculture sector at the base, manufacturing at the middle and service sector at the top. Such an approach, he maintained, would lead to sustainable development.
Though agriculture is a state subject, the Central government needed to trigger and engineer the reform agenda in the agriculture sector, he said.
Gulati cited the example of the impact of centrally engineered Green and White revolution on Indian economy and advocated for centrally sponsored active agenda for reform in this basic sector of the economy that caters to the food and nutrition security.
For Odisha, Gulati pointed out that frequent natural calamities and erratic rains are main factors responsible for slow agricultural growth rate in the state.
He suggested focusing on infrastructural development like irrigation, rural roads, more power to the agriculture sector and the establishment of the value chain for cereal and fruit products in the state for achieving the higher growth rate in agriculture.
The lecture series is being conducted in Odisha to update the state functionaries with the newly emerging ideas and best practices at the national and international levels in the matters of public policy and developmental administration.
Finance Minister Pradip Kumar Amat, Agriculture Minister Pradeep Maharathy, Panchayati Raj minister Arun Kumar Sahoo, IT minister Pranab Prakash Das, Planning and Convergence minister Usha Devi, ST & SC Development Minister Lal Bihari Himirika and others attended the lecture.
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