How Indian agriculture can solve unemployment in India?

Indian agriculture is a field, which can solve future unemployment situation in India, but this is the most neglected field by politicians and government officials.

Now, I will list down a few bullet points how this can be done.

Introducing corporate agriculture system

The Soviet method of agriculture may not fit. The possible solution could be corporate agriculture where corporate companies will invest their money and technology in agriculture and share the profits with farmers. The most important thing, which can improve agricultural scene in India, is water. For this, we need to build big dams.

Agriculture in India needs more support from industries. Food processing is one. In India, only 2% of the agricultural output is processed. In developed countries, it is as high as 80%. This will give better returns to the farmers from their crops and can also eliminate middlemen since the industries will buy directly from farmers. Also, the government must invest in irrigation, technology, and more efficient, reliable and cost effective credit system.

Improving marketing system and providing social security

The marketing system should also be improved. Social security will have to be brought in for every person in India. That will at least mean that people would not have to live in acute poverty when their crop fails or they lose their job. But at the same time, it should be realized that bulk employment will be generated by the services and manufacturing sectors.

We can also help farmers in places where traditional crops have been a failure due to water scarcity, by helping them plant crops like Jatropha, which needs only a little amount of water, and also would directly help the corporate world as it helps in the production of biofuel.

Subsidizing farmers and implementing crop insurance system

Other suggestion would be complete crop insurance and subsidizing the farmer rather than the consumer. The government must subsidize the farmers heavily, so that they are able to reduce the price of the food and it is available in the market at a cheap price rather than procuring from the farmers and selling it cheap to the public.

Government needs to subsidize more initially. Better irrigation system needs to be laid out. We are good in terms of production but if an efficient system is laid out, it would be much better. Irrigation is the key. We have the natural resources, so we just need to utilize them better. For example: In Gujarat, after the Sardar Sarovar Dam project is complete, it would not only provide drinking water to the Saurashtra/Kutch region but also possibilities of better agricultural produce in the not-so fertile land in this region. So there has to be an increased effort on the part of the government in laying out a better infrastructure for agriculture.

Increasing storage facilities

Government should also provide more storage facilities for the crop produced, as Indian granaries are overflowing and rotting while people who cannot afford the food are dying of hunger. We need to figure out a system through which we can store food better and process it better.

Why farmers are committing suicides?

Most farmers who commit suicides make poor choices of crops and grow high-risk crops like cotton, tobacco etc. Water shortages and pests can devastate these crops much more easily than others. The government can do a lot about this (and to my knowledge is working towards it). They should use our research and extension facilities and provide advice to the farmers as to what to plant and what not to. Additionally, lot of emphasis should be placed on research to diversify the crops that can be grown. Fruit crops, some grain crops, legumes need less water and reasonably less resources. Educating the farmers about these "non-traditional" choices and opportunities is really important.

Tightening of agricultural credit system

The agricultural credit system should be tightened so that farmers get credit only when they make informed decisions. In this way, farmers will not be in heavy debt and will not be forced to kill themselves.

I think if these steps are introduced in an effective manner in the agricultural system, then agriculture business in India can provide employment to millions of people in the rural and urban parts of the country, as the people who have come to the urban areas to gain employment in other fields will return to their villages and will do hard work in agriculture business which is their basic living in their area.

I invite everyone from not only the Indian community but also the global Internet community to share their inputs in this matter of concern.