6. Agriculture and Inclusive Growth

♤ The agriculture sector employs close to half the labour force in the country but generates the lowest per capita output (and hence is associated with the highest levels of poverty). It is clear that if there is to be inclusive growth in India, it has to begin in the agricultural sector.

♤ Statistics show that the smaller the landholding of a farmer is, slower is the income growth. As far as land ownership is concerned, the opposite of inclusive growth—a regressive growth—had taken place for agriculture.

♤ Given this state of affairs, the government has decided to set a target of ‘doubling of farmers’ income by the year 2022’. Parallely, the Government is aiming to reorient agriculture sector by focusing on income centeredness. In order to realise net positive returns for the farmer, schemes as follows,