Agriculture needs a boost

Unleash rural entrepreneurship

One way of solving a puzzle is to challenge the assumptions associated with it. The All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey, which was conducted by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development for the period, 2016-17, seems to have done just that by busting a few myths pertaining to the relationship between agriculture and the rural economy. It has been found that agriculture constitutes only around 23 per cent of the average incomes of rural households — rural, in this case, includes revenue villages and semi-urban settings. Among agricultural households, activities related to cultivation and livestock rearing contribute a little over 43 per cent of the average income. Non-agricultural sources thus provide a distinctly higher share of the earnings in a constituency that was believed — wrongly as it turns out — overly reliant on cultivation.

The diminishing returns from farm activities are undoubtedly forcing farm hands to shun their traditional means of sustenance. Substantial investments must be made to open up alternative avenues of employment and productivity in rural areas. The idea must be to unleash rural entrepreneurship that is allied to agriculture. This will decongest farms, turning agriculture profitable. The government ought to harness this entrepreneurial spirit by providing finance, infrastructure and connectivity.