Comment on the need to increase spending on R&D for the agriculture sector.

Agriculture sector in India contributes around 14% to GDP, while employing almost half of the entire workforce. The green revolution was a major technological breakthrough which created a lasting impact on Indian agriculture.

However, India’s public investment on R&D has remained stagnant over the last two decades at around 0.6% to 0.7% of GDP. 

Need of investment in agri R&D:

• Ensuring Food security – India will become most populous country by 2027. Green Revolution 2.0 is needed to meet the requirements of the rising population, while increasing share of agriculture in India’s GDP.
• An investment in R&D would help to create better and productive seeds.
• Climate Change resilient agriculture – increase resilience of crops against environmental impact.
• Increase Farmer’s income by overcoming issues such as seed problems, pest and disease problems, crop sustainability, climate change, irrigation problems, soil erosion etc.
• Efficient Water Management by investing in R&D on irrigation technologies. 
• Development of GM crops.
• Ecologically sustainable agriculture.
• Becoming the food-basket of the world.

Way forward:

In the coming years, food insecurity is going to be a global crisis due to various consequences of climate change. Hence, it is imperative to make our agriculture resilient by increasing investments in research and development.