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Agriculture and Budget
The agriculture sector which employs more than 55% of India's
work force stands at a cross roads. Measures taken by the government during
next few years would decide the shape
the agriculture sector would take
Huge food grains stocks
and rising exports of India’s agricultural goods, the union budget presentation
for 2013-14 would not have come at a better time for the sector which employs
more than half of country’s working class population.
As finance minister P Chidambaram
rose to present the union budget for the year 2013- 14, there was lot of
expectation from the arming community. Nothing explains the agriculture sector
better than the Economic Survey 2012-13 presented before the parliament just a
day before the union budget was announced. The survey observed “Indian
agriculture is broadly a story of success. It has done remarkably well in terms
of output growth, despite weather and price shocks in the past few years,”.
The Eleventh Five Year
Plan (2007-12) agricultural and allied sector witnessed an average annual growth
of 3.6 percent in the gross domestic product (GDP) against a target of 4.0
percent. While it may appear that the performance of the agriculture and allied
sector has fallen short of the target, production has improved remarkably, growing
twice as fast as population. “India’s agricultural exports are booming at
a time when many other leading producers are experiencing difficulties,” the survey which is an annual report card of government’s performance noted.
