Sustaining Power Of Rural & Agrarian Sector For Overall Growth Of India’s Human Development Index

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Sustaining Power Of Rural & Agrarian Sector For Overall Growth Of India’s Human Development Index

Journal Title: International Journal of Business and Management Invention - Year 2018, Vol 7, Issue 4

Abstract

Managing the linkages between agriculture, poverty and nutrition areas are as critical as we look towards providing with an opportunity to reach their full potential especially to children. The new agenda of sustainability should also have a goal that explicitly focuses on improving agricultural systems and addresses rural development in an integrated manner. These features of sustainable agriculture should be delivered as a package, and no single feature should predominate over the others. Economic challenges to sustainable development include slow economic growth, globalization, mechanization, excessive reliance on foreign direct investment, job losses, and inequitable distribution of wealth etc. Many rural areas in developing countries like in India often lack agricultural extension services, processing capacity, credit, roads, irrigation, transportation, energy, and storage infrastructure. For urban and rural populations alike, the lack of adequate income is one of the main obstructions to overcoming hunger. This is particularly true for women whose challenges are exacerbated by less access to land, scarce credit, and lower levels of education. Chronic hunger is fundamentally not an issue of just more food; sometimes it is an issue of access. India, for example, is a net exporter of food with millions of tons of grain in storehouses but 47% of its children are still malnourished. India is not unique; the situation is similar in a number of countries. So, while increasing production is an important part of the strategy for keeping food prices reasonable, hunger often has more to do with access and poverty and sometimes with politics. The agricultural sector is different from other economic sectors in a number of ways. Here activities are generally located in isolated areas with low population density and poor infrastructure. This in many cases dependent on weather and production cycles; income is seasonal and monetary income is limited. Agricultural prices are notoriously volatile and few farmers can offer guarantees that are legally or financial acceptable. Moreover, as microfinance is increasingly integrating into conventional financial markets, the sector has no choice but to apply cost-covering interest rates. Such rates often contradict the expansion of rural coverage and agricultural finance due to the low profitability of the activities financed. All these factors explain the relative lack of interest in agriculture on the part of urban and semi-urban zones. The complexity of the Gramya Banks and other such schemes needs to be reduced in order to lessen the expense associated with such schemes, and their long term viability can be ensured by linking the project early with existing credit unions or rural banks. There is some evidence to suggest that the community benefits economically, educationally and socially from the presence of MFIs. Moreover, as microfinance is increasingly integrating into conventional financial markets, improved resource management through the use of information technologies permits more efficient use of inputs for the same level of crop yields, thus reduces the deterioration of natural resource quality. Whereas the green revolution technologies led to quantum jumps in crop yields, the new biotechnologies and information technologies, as well as the indigenous technologies and knowledge, are tools for achieving incremental advances in yields and maintaining the yields in a sustainable fashion. The demand for relatively high priced organic products reflects consumer interests now a day. International and national standards for organic products have been established and a certification system for organic food is now used in many countries. So it is now necessary to maximize the positive effect of this movement using consumer signals effectively. To improve reliability of certification on specialized products, including organic food, it is important to develop a reliable certification system. Beyond facilitating transfers from regions of surplus to regions of deficit – important in particular in light of increased extreme climatic events, such as droughts and floods, a reformed, non-distorted agricultural system is considered of paramount importance for opening markets for developing country exporters and contributing to improved rural livelihoods. Globally, corporate power has grown to easily rival the influence and effect of the state, in changing the dynamics of local and global food systems. This private power, while seeking profits, is also increasingly under pressure to work towards sustainable modes of production and processing as concerns about resources and supply availability increase and consumers are ever more aware of corporate roles and their impact on food and agriculture. Several of the world’s leading food companies have made strong public commitments to sourcing products that are independently certified to be in compliance with public and private sustainability standards for contributing higher Human Development Index. This can be tried in India also.

Authors and Affiliations

Dr. Susil Kumar Sarangi

Keywords

Linkage Microfinance Organic Product Integration Food Prices Certification.

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