Agriculture, together with its many subsidiary industries, provides the majority of India’s GDP and employs millions of people. Friendly agriculture, which provides rural occupation and ecologically sustainable skills, is crucial for the complete development of a nation because it contributes a significant figure to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Did you know that there have been multiple revolutions in Indian agriculture over the years? Here is how we classify time periods:
The term “Green Revolution” refers to the time when India’s agricultural output rose as a result of advances in agronomic science.
Verghese Kurien’s Operation Flood, a massive agricultural improvement effort, is the focus of “White Revolution.”
New oilseed varieties and supporting technology have flourished thanks to the Yellow Revolution.
The Blue Revolution directed humanity toward safe drinking water and reliable crop irrigation through careful management of the world’s water supplies.
There are more than 119 million farmers in India, and an additional 144 million landless labourers. According to the Indian proverb “Uttam kheti, Madhyam vyapar, Kanishtha naukri,” agriculture is regarded as the most honourable of all industries. It can be inferred from the proverb that farming is the highest calling, business is middle ground, and servitude is the lowest calling.
Agriculture as an industry: yes OR no?
First of all, farming is the only industry anywhere that involves production and also contains variable cost concerns. The following are various justifications for the aforementioned generalisation. A steel manufacturer’s bottom line could take a hit due to labour disputes, transportation strikes, price fluctuations, raw material shifts, natural disasters, and other unforeseeable events. Even so, these disruptions occur once in a blue moon at best dosatron.
On the other hand, production risks are almost a daily occurrence for a farmer. It’s possible that there won’t be any precipitation at all during planting time, let alone when the seeds germinate and thrive. In addition, farmers are vulnerable to the devastation caused by bug infestations, hailstorms at peak harvest time, and massive price drops. It is because of these things that farmers cannot afford to take output or price risks.
Second, only in agriculture can you buy everything at retail and sell it at wholesale prices. The e-commerce giants buy wholesale and sell retail. Farmers are the only consumers I know who always pay full price for anything they buy, from tractors and small machines to seeds. However, they have to sell their goods at wholesale prices.
To get around this bias, farmer-producer cooperatives should buy seeds, agricultural products, agri accessories, fertilisers, etc. in bulk from manufacturers and then sell them to farmers at uniform prices. The unfortunate truth, though, is that such groups are uncommon in countries like India, where the intermediary plays a significant role.
Perhaps it’s only a matter of time before some of our farmers start asking to be exempt from the regulations that have been passed specifically for them, sparking yet another uprising.
