Global competitiveness needs to be improved in context of Indian agriculture. Analyze

Indian agriculture faces several challenges. These are both internal and external. Internal challenges are there from a long time. They are well recognized and need to be addressed urgently. External challenges have emerged in recent years and are threatening to weaken the already weak agricultural sector. Ignoring the challenges will be perilous because the livelihood of two-thirds of the population is dependent on agriculture and allied activities.
Issues:

• Need to raise farm productivity
• Cut down unit costs and make Indian agriculture more competitive, enabling higher exports
• There is a need to build direct supply chains from farms to ports, which bypass the mandi system
• Indian farmers do not get full advantage of global markets.

Improving global competitiveness:

• Investment in agri-R&D
• Massive investments are also needed in managing our water resources more efficiently, to produce more with less
• Investment in infrastructure for agri-exports value chains
• The money being wastefully spent on storage of unconscionable levels of foodgrain stocks as buffer should be better utilized
• Integrating resource poor farmers through contract farming

�Global competitiveness is the ability to produce globally acceptable quality at globally comparable cost. Currently, Indian farm goods do not pass this test. The immediate goal is to become strong enough to withstand competition from cheap imports. Strengthening domestic agriculture and building an efficient agricultural production base through appropriate policy support is the need of the hour.
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Topics: GS-III: Storage Transport and Marketing of Agricultural Produce Related Issues