Agriculture emerges as bright spot in Covid gloom

MUMBA I: During these COVID19 times , the o nly silv er l ining for t he ec onomy i s agriculture. Its co ntribution to GDP has increased partly because a griculture has done well f or itself , as well as the fact that other sectors of the econo my ha ve not done very well.

Wit h above-normal rainf all supported by major polic y d isruptions at mandi l evel and varied pilot initia tives, a griculture has witnessed a ne w wa ve this year. T his sector is estima ted to dominate the g rowth of India's economy a t l east f or FY 20202021. In f act, what 1991 wa s fo r industry and the I ndian economy, 2020 could do t he s ame f or agriculture.

In or der to find w ays to improve this s ector fur ther, SIES and F ree Press Journal in association with NSE, NCDEX Investor (Clie nt) Pr otection Fund Trust, and East Wes t S eed organised a w ebinar series on the ‘Future of Agriculture’.

Dilip Rajan, MD , East-West Seed India, said, “Agriculture can be the sole bright spot in this overall gloomy economic outlook.” E conomists belie ve that agriculture alone can give the Indian e conomy an o verall GD P boost b y 0.5-1%. He added tha t agriculture can help In dia’s stalled e conomy and infuse the much-needed de mand into the system.

Rajan averred, “2020 could very well bec ome 1991 f or a griculture.” Ho wever, to ful ly exploit its pote ntial Raj an wants a r obust demand, attractive opportunity, timel y suppor t of fered b y the go vernments and unique competitive advantage.

Advocating t he ide a to r evive the a gri-sector, Ar un Ras te, Executive Dir ector, NDDB, s tated that the youth of the country has to come forward with ne w ideas to revive a griculture. Adding to this, Simon T horsten Wiebusch stated that with mor e and m ore farmer pr oducer org anisations (FPOs) coming in, there will be a need f or r ural mana gement which would need smart human resources which would dema nd an unders tanding of eco nomics and f arm mana gement principles. He underscored that f ood security does not mean mer ely grain security. I t means n utritional securit y and tha t India needs to address this urgently .

To become what China is for industries, it will n ot be tough f or

India if it manages its agriculture skillfully, stressed Raste.

Rajan sug gested that what matters is the e volution of a thought process and the f irst ste p c ould well be to address agriculture as agribusiness. He felt adding business to the w ord agriculture will change perceptions and hence the economics of th is s ector and it will become a lot mor e attractive among the youth.

Raste strongly believes that government interv ention in the sector should be minimal in order to attract more youth to the sector.

Echoing th e thoughts, Simon Thorsten Wiebusch, COO, Bayer Crop Science Division, asserted, “The go ver nment s hould onl y regulate what needs to be regulated.” In the current en vironment, Wiebusch added, the go vernment should set the rig ht parameters and pu ll itse lf out of areas wh ere it s interv ention is not required.