{"id":215387,"date":"2022-11-22T18:53:14","date_gmt":"2022-11-22T13:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=215387"},"modified":"2022-11-22T18:53:14","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T13:23:14","slug":"low-crop-yield-in-india-what-farming-needs-a-giant-tech-leap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/low-crop-yield-in-india-what-farming-needs-a-giant-tech-leap\/","title":{"rendered":"Low crop yield in India: WHAT FARMING NEEDS: A GIANT TECH LEAP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source: <\/b>The post is based on the article\u00a0\u201cWHAT FARMING NEEDS: A GIANT TECH LEAP\u201d <\/b>published in the Livemint <\/b>on 22nd November 2022.<\/b><\/p>\n

Syllabus:\u00a0<\/strong>GS-3 – Major crops-cropping patterns in various parts of the country.<\/p>\n

Relevance:\u00a0<\/strong>About low crop yield in India.<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>: Low crop yield in India is a grave concern for Indian Agriculture.<\/p>\n

How low crop yield in India stands against the yield of various countries?<\/h5>\n
\"India's
Source: Livemint<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soy yields<\/strong> in India are three-four times lower compared to the US and Argentina<\/p>\n

Mustard yields<\/strong> are almost half compared to canola grown in Canada (mustard and canola belong to the same Brassica genus).<\/p>\n

India is among the top producers of cotton<\/strong> in the world but yields are less than a fourth when compared to China.<\/p>\n

Average rice yields<\/strong> in India are 57% of China and lower than even Bangladesh and Vietnam.<\/p>\n

India is the largest producer of milk<\/strong> in the world but cattle milk yields (per animal per year) are 60% of China and less than a fifth of the US.<\/p>\n

Why are crop yields so abysmally low in India?<\/h5>\n

This is because,<\/p>\n

1)<\/strong> Low investments in public research<\/strong>: Total agriculture research spending in India grew from $0.5 billion in 1981 to $4 billion in 2016 (in purchasing power parity terms). During this period, spending in China grew from $0.2 billion to $7.7 billion,<\/p>\n

2)<\/strong> A weak IPR regime discourages the private sector to invest and innovate, 3)<\/strong> Small farmers are unable to invest in crop management practices and technologies which can improve yields, and 4)\u00a0<\/strong>Under the Protection of Plant Variety and Farmers Rights Act, 2001<\/strong>, farmers are allowed to reuse, exchange and sell seed of any variety. This restricts the private sector only to hybrid seed varieties.<\/p>\n

5)<\/strong> In India, farmers have been growing the same seed variety for two decades<\/strong>. For instance, Indian farmers are forced to plant soybean seeds which were released for cultivation more than 15 years ago.<\/p>\n

6) Outdated technologies<\/strong>: For instance, In cotton, India is the only large producer growing hybrids. While the rest of the world is growing open-pollinated varieties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read more: We must break \u2018lock-ins\u2019 of water usage in agriculture<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
What are the potential impacts of low crop yield in India?<\/h5>\n

a)<\/strong> Impact farmer incomes, b)<\/strong> Low yield will lead to inefficient and unsustainable use of soils, nutrients, water and land.<\/p>\n

c) Farmers resort to illegal seeds<\/strong>: As seed technology is outdated, to save on labour costs of clearing weeds and increasing yields farmers resort to planting non-approved seed varieties. For instance, nearly a fifth of India\u2019s cotton area is now planted with illegal herbicide-tolerant GM cotton seeds.<\/p>\n

Why India needs to work on its low crop yield?<\/h5>\n

1)<\/strong> According to the FAO, the world will need 50% more food by 2050 to feed the increasing global population along with a lower carbon footprint, 2)<\/strong> India’s arable land is shrinking, and 3)<\/strong> As climate shocks become frequent, agriculture will emerge as a strategic sector for India and the entire world.<\/p>\n

The only option left for India is to achieve agriculture sector growth by improving productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read more: India\u2019s Agriculture Exports: Status and Challenges \u2013 Explained, pointwise<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
What should be done to improve low crop yield in India?<\/h5>\n

-The focus should be to increase output not just per unit of land but also with respect to water and fertilizer use.<\/p>\n

–<\/strong>Upgrade farmers regularly with improved seed varieties<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

-Central bodies and others have to be strengthened with resources, so they have the capacity to deliver to the changing needs.<\/p>\n

-India should develop science-based crop management practices<\/strong> armed with data analytics<\/strong>. For instance, the variable rate technology (VRT) in US helps farmers to track soil health in real-time.<\/p>\n

Overall India has to focus on precision agriculture along with sustainable practices like zero-till and mulching to improve its low yield.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post is based on the article\u00a0\u201cWHAT FARMING NEEDS: A GIANT TECH LEAP\u201d published in the Livemint on 22nd November 2022. Syllabus:\u00a0GS-3 – Major crops-cropping patterns in various parts of the country. Relevance:\u00a0About low crop yield in India. News: Low crop yield in India is a grave concern for Indian Agriculture. How low crop… Continue reading Low crop yield in India: WHAT FARMING NEEDS: A GIANT TECH LEAP<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10311,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[216,10501],"class_list":["post-215387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-live-mint","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}