Agriculture plays a major role in the development of any country economy and acts as a driving force to make country socially and economically independent. A country with low agriculture growth will not find any place in this world and has to always depend on the other country for their basic needs. Post Independence India agriculture condition was very poor and the country was unable to feed their own people, moreover frequent floods, famine and spread of various diseases have made the situation worst. It was a political will showed by then Agriculture minister C. Subramanian and PrimeMinister Lal Bahadur Shastri for the introduction of technology in agriculture sector and India became self-sufficient in cereal grain production.
With the explosion of population in the developing world like India, China, there was the need for more focused approach in dealing with the issue of food security and how effectively it can be distributed over the masses with maximum efficiency. It is said that the power of population is indefinitely is greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man.
The solution for the issue is usage of Science and Technology .In the 1960s when country was facing famine like condition, dwarf wheat varieties developed by Norman Borlaug at CIMMTY in Mexico with funds from the Ford Foundation were introduced in northern India to bring about Green Revolution.
In 2011-12 India has imported around 56000 crore worth of edible oil to meet national requirement. India today requires another Green Revolution based on low input- high output model. Science can play a major role in this field but in the country like ours where various political ideology exist opposed the technology in 1960s.The worst siege on new technology has been conducted by neo-left. They want to take back India in 1900 era and sometime they also called as eco-terrorist .Various countries like European countries,Japan,SouthKorea have not allowed transgenic crops in their territories however the are importing huge amount for human consumption.
But in a country like India where millions of people die every year due to hunger and malnutrition ,there is a need for strict measures in the field of agriculture and science and technology can play a major role in developing the basic infrastructure for the present need .The only transgenic crop released in India till now is Bt cotton in 2005 ,as a result of PIL filed by an NGO ON bio-safety issue relating to transgenic crop. The committee set by the Supreme Court of India also slammed India bio-safety protocol and competence to carry out bio-safety work .If the committee had an open mind they would have asked for improvement rather than banning it.
Due to lack of investment and political will of people, the future of transgenic crop in India is in danger. That is why the Planning commission has projected the growth of 4% in the 12th Plan. We can use our old and new technologies we can aspire to grow at 7 to 8 % but if all these bans ,lack of will power, slow decision making will be there then the future of Indian agriculture will not be fruitful.In the words of Jawahar Lal Nehru" It is science alone that can solve the problem of hunger and poverty ,of sanitation and illiteracy ,of superstition and deadening custom and tradition.
Agriculture is multifunctional. It provides food, feed, fiber, fuel and other goods. It also has a major influence on other essential ecosystem services such as water supply and carbon sequestration or release. Agriculture plays an important social role, providing employment and a way of life. Both agriculture and its products are a medium of cultural transmission and cultural practices worldwide. Agriculturally based communities provide a foundation for local economies and are an important means for countries to secure their territories. Agriculture accounts for a major part of the livelihood of 40% of the world’s population and occupies 40% of total land area; 90% of farms worldwide have a size of less than 2 hectares. Agriculture includes crop, animal, forestry, and fishery based systems or mixed farming, including new emerging systems such as organic, precision and peri-urban agriculture. Although agricultural inputs and outputs constitute the bulk of world trade, most food is consumed domestically, i.e., where it is produced.
