expert corner
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Let’s work towards
transforming agriculture
sector in 2018!
The government cannot let agriculture lag behind in
technology adoption if it wants to achieve its goal of doubling
farmers’ incomes by 2022, writes Hanmantrao Gaikwad, CMD,
BVG Life Sciences
F
rom
being an
agrarian
economy,
India
made a
quick shift to the
services sector where a
large base of young
workers migrated from
agriculture to the
tertiary sector. Today
agriculture (and allied
sectors) contributes
around 17% to India's
GDP but employs over
half of the Indian
workforce at 56%. So
36
BioVoiceNews | Dec 2017 - Jan 2018
we can easily imply
that agriculture
currently is not as
remunerative as the
services sector is.
However, I see that
changing in 2018,
particularly with the
renewed focus of the
government on
agriculture and allied
sectors, mainly dairy.
The government has
ambitious plans to
double the incomes of
farmers by 2022, and a
further policy impetus
for companies
contributing their bit
to this ambition will
not only help the
government achieve its
target but also help the
sector self-sustain itself
in the long run.
Agri-tech is going to be
a major contributor to
making agriculture
more remunerative in
the coming year, and
that will also
contribute to bringing
in the much-needed
glamour to agriculture.