August 24, 2010

India's agriculture needs to replicate IT success

In order to further GDP growth, India needs to emulate the success of IT and replicate it in the agriculture sector, said a senior government official.

"India has recorded higher growth rate in sectors like IT. This needs to be replicated in agriculture in order to push overall GDP growth," G C Pati, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operation said at an Iffco Foundation event.

Iffco Foundation is a think tank formed by the world's largest fertiliser cooperative - Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative, popularly known as Iffco.

Pati also called for imparting skilled-based training for farmers with a view to bridge the knowledge deficit.

"China had been successful in moving out people from agriculture but for India, such a drastic measure poses a big challenge. We need to reduce the number of persons engaged in agriculture and give alternative sources of livelihood to them," Pati said.