Revitalising Indian Agriculture and New Farm Laws: Challenges and Opportunities Ahead

This essay begins with a brief introduction of the infamous farm laws and briefly explains its various provisions. The advantages of the legislation, which the media has failed to highlight time and again, are then explored. Consequently, the evident flaws in the legislation and how it directly benefits the private sector and causes harm to the farmers, whom the bill is intended to benefit. Therefore, an understanding of both the sides of the coin are provided and it is up to the reader to ascertain the efficacy of the bills. The infamous protests orchestrated by the farmers against the legislations are also briefly touched on. Whether they are right or wrong, a procedural history of the passage of the legislations has been given to highlight the hasty and uncoordinated manner by which they were passed. The role of non-state actors and the media towards the protests must be assessed. Lastly, it would be prudent to examine the moments wherein the protestors crossed the line and chose anarchy. The paper concludes by offering a few solutions to the dilemma at hand.

Dairy Value Chain

Livestock sector is the backbone of Indian agriculture and plays a crucial role in the development of the rural economy. More than one-fifth (23%) of agricultural households with area less than 0.01 hectare reported livestock as their principal source of income (GoI Government of India (2014) Key indicators of situation of agricultural). Livestock is one of the fastest-growing sectors of Indian agriculture. While the share of overall agriculture and allied sectors in Gross Value Added (GVA) declined from 18.2% in 2014–15 to 17.8% in 2019–20, the share of livestock sector in GVA increased from 4.4% to 5.1% in the same period (GoI Government of India (2021) The economic survey (2020–21). Ministry of Finance. Government of India). Livestock sector accounts for 31% of the gross value of output in agriculture and allied sector (GVOA). Within livestock, milk is the biggest component with 20% share in GVOA. In fact, milk is the largest agriculture commodity in terms of value of output worth INR 772,705 crores in 2018–19 which was more than the value of cereals, pulses, oilseeds and sugarcane combined worth INR 623,462 crores (MoSPI. (2021). National Accounts Statistics 2020. Central Statistical Organization. Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation.). Around 70 million of rural households are engaged in milk production, most of them are landless, marginal, and small farmers (NCAER. (2020). Analyzing Socio-Economic Impact of National Dairy Plan—I. National Council for Applied Economic Research. February 2020.). As a source of livelihood for million of poor households, dairying also supplements their dietary sources of protein and nutrition thus playing a critical role in the country’s food security needs.

Sustainability in farming sector and physical comfort in work place to reduce Mental- stress of Farmers

Musculoskeletal discomforts and disorders cause serious health related problems that affect the mental well-being of farmers reducing their work efficiency and thus, hindering to achieve a sustainable agriculture. The objective of this study was to evaluate the discomfort levels of farmers in Indian agriculture leading to mental stresses, and for this, the discomfort questionnaire has been applied after carrying out a detailed literature review. With the help of discomfort questionnaire and “Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21)”, the farmers discomfort levels and their mental stress levels were evaluated. Further by the application of ANFIS, an effort has been made to predict the mental stress of farmers during their work activities in hot-climatic conditions based on the associated parameters like “kcal burnt, Pulse rate, High BP, Low BP, and Temperature”, respectively.

Smart Monitoring IoT-Based System for Hydroponic Agriculture

In India, the land of farmers, where agriculture has always been the primary occupation of the people, more than 50% of the population is still engaged in agriculture and its allied sectors. However, over the years, a significant decline has been observed in the contribution by the agriculture sector towards India's GDP. This chapter aimed towards identifying the gap between the ratio of high inputs and low yields by portraying the various limitations in traditional Indian agriculture methods and how hydroponic agriculture is the need of the hour for the growth of Indian agriculture. Hydroponic agriculture or hydroponics, around the world, has proved to be an efficient and more productive method of agriculture than geoponics (i.e., the traditional agriculture practice carried out in the soil). Although bearing a large bouquet of advantages, there are some limitations associated with it as well. This chapter aimed at overcoming these limitations to enhance this novel approach of agriculture even further.

A Comprehensive Review of Agricultural Policies in India

India has been an agrarian economy since ancient times; despite the diminishing value added of agricultural activities to total domestic production or GDP, the agriculture sector has remained the largest employer and thus proved to be the driver of growth and poverty reduction. Moreover, in the recent period of a pandemic where every economic activity came to a halt and showed a negative growth rate, agricultural activities, on the other hand, grew positively, employing job losers in these challenging times. However, agriculture in India faces lots of obstacles due to its limitations in policy formulation and implementation. Therefore, this chapter aims to provide an outline of Indian agriculture growth – reviewing its agricultural policy reforms and observing the fundamental concerns that have shaped the expansion of the agriculture sector.

Behavioural Determinants of Functionality of Farmer Producer Organisations in Punjab

Small and marginal farming communities of Indian agriculture account for more than 85%of the total farming households. They face the challenges of land fragmentation, high costof inputs and inability to market their produce efficiently. To tackle these challenges, policymakers came up with the model of farmers’ mutual cooperation through Farmer ProducerOrganisations (FPOs). This study conducted in Punjab analyses the behavioural factorsresponsible for functionality of FPOs. A random selection of 150 members from 5 functionaland 5 non-functional FPOs (i.e., 15 respondents from each selected FPO) was made andthe respondents were interviewed personally. The findings revealed that the members(including management) of the functional FPOs had higher risk bearing capacity, greatereconomic motivation and more innovativeness as compared to the respondents from non-functional FPOs. Similarly, respondents from functional FPOs were socially, economicallyand managerially more empowered than the non-functional FPOs. Business skills of themembers, including the managerial members, of functional FPOs were also better ascompared to those from the non-functional FPOs. Regression estimates revealed that thefunctionality, better academic qualification, bigger land holding and joint family systemwere responsible for the higher net annual income of the respondents.

Essentials, Challenges, and Future Directions of Agricultural IoT

Agriculture plays a major role in the socio-economic structure of India. A recent report claimed that population of India is increasing faster than its capability to produce rice, wheat, and vegetables. The challenges in the area of agriculture are farming, watering, weather forecasting, marketing, and transportation. These challenges are to be addressed towards proper solution. If the infrastructure and productivity of the food increases, then India can easily feed its population as well as improve the exports of wheat and rice around the world. Internet of things (IoT) is an emerging technical area of agriculture domain. The advantage of IoT is to implement a smart agriculture management system with the help of analyzing the weather conditions of the field in order to optimize the usage of water, energy, fertilizers so as to maximize the crop yield. The objective of this study is to explore the possible contributions of IoT in Indian agriculture towards the improvements in irrigation infrastructure, agricultural productivity, food security, and rural job opportunities.