Transformation in agricultural sector through technology in the Indian

Abstract

Over the past 72 years, India’s efforts towards improving the agriculture sector & the lives of its primary stakeholder “the farmer” have been fraught with challenges, producing mixed & contradictory outcomes. For example, India’s agricultural production constitutes 11 percent of total global agricultural production and, at the same time, India hosts the world’s largest number of malnourished people.i More than half of the population of India depend on agriculture for their livelihood yet it only contributes approx. 17.5% to GDP.ii Smallholder farmers (farmers who own less than 2 hectares of agricultural land) own 86% of agricultural land yet a majority of government agricultural subsidies are used by medium and large-scale farmers.iii Even though India has achieved considerable success in modernizing agriculture, smallholder farmers have been marginalized. Debt levels of a farming household have been on the rise, reaching fivefold in a decade, but increases in farm incomes have not kept up. The unfortunate result is 300,000+ Indian farmers have committed suicide since 1995