Wednesday 21 November 2012

Need for Rural Youth in Agriculture


Rural youth are the future of the agricultural sector.  With a growing world population and a decreasing agricultural productivity in combination with a rural exodus, sustainable food production and supply are threatened. Young farmers play an important role in ensuring food security for future generations but they face many challenges.

The world population is projected to 9.3 billion in 2050 and to reach 10.1 billion by 2100.  According to the World Bank, the size of rural population is expected to continue to grow until 2020. This population growth has resulted in the ongoing sub-division of land and in highly fragmented parcels.   Therefore, youth (especially those with many siblings) end up inheriting just a very small piece.

There is a need to create more vocational training centres for the youth to revive agriculture whose contribution has come down to nearly 15% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the country.

Technological upgrading as well as social engineering will be essential for improving the productivity, profitability and sustainability of small farms. Educated youth can provide demand-driven services such as farm health monitoring and enhancement, production and marketing of the biological software essential for sustainable agriculture, climate risk management, organisation of bioparks, food parks, bio-villages, bioindustrial watersheds, and improved post-harvest technology.

For youth to be persuaded to take to farming, agriculture must be economically rewarding and intellectually stimulating. The development of the services sector in rural India will increase income and improve the efficiency of farming. Once a large number of educated youth settle in villages, much of the IT services work can be outsourced from urban to rural areas. This will help in maintaining our global leadership in this area by making such assignments very cost-effective.

Governments should promote policies and programmes that result in real improvements in the quality of agricultural jobs, especially through adoption of modern technology. They should also ensure that mechanisms, institutions and support networks are in place so young people can advance in these jobs. Because young people’s situations vary from region to region, approaches must be flexible and sensitive to local socio-economic realities.

As a responsible company working for the benefit of the farming community, Crystal Group is committed to encourage youth and support government’s policy for the need of youth in Indian agriculture.