Page 12 - IMDR JOURNAL 2020-21

IMDR’s Journal of Management Development and Research 2020-21

a living on agriculture. The Union Budget of 2017- platforms. Export of agricultural produce, currently
2018 aimed to double farmers’ incomes by 2022 by- at Rs. 2.5 lakh crore is an area which can open up
• Government subsidies to agriculture are at an new opportunities to be explored.
all - time high. 3. It is necessary to set up custom service centres for
• Further, cropping patterns have shifted in favour machines and irrigation facilities as mechanization
of cash crops such as sugarcane and rubber. is expected to dominate this era. These centres are
• Introduction of cooperative farming techniques anticipated to pen down a requirement of large
(e – choupal, and many more). investments in infrastructure, purchase of machines,
• Rise of SHGs such as Lijjat Papad. training, manpower, and complete digitization of
• Agricultural land being brought under the service including pest identification, advisory
industrial and commercial use, thereby straining service, spraying of crop protection chemicals and
the remaining agricultural land. many more. A farmer’s database can be created, and
• Opening numerous export sectors for data can be collected and analysed using techniques
agricultural goods. of big data and AI.
If the experts are to be believed, this decade will 4. Capacity building in rural areas. Farmers
be hugely influential in the lives of our farmers. and require assistance in organizing themselves as farmer
the reasons to support this influence are as follows- producer organizations, training, digital knowledge,
a) There is an expectation to establish a direct and many more. Government has just announced
connection between consumers and farmers, many programs for assisting dairy, micro food
mitigating the role of middlemen. enterprises, fisheries, and many other businesses in
b) Well established corporates are planning to rural sector. The set-up of such a network of such
join hands with Agri Tech start-ups to offer digital centres may not require huge capital investment
services to the agricultural sector. Experts believe but it will have a developmental dimension to the
that there will be a surge in active internet users As investment making it a social venture.
per reports, the count will increase from 500 million Numerous Agri Tech innovators and entrepreneurs
to 1 billion by 2027. are now in advanced talks of offering their products
c) Demand for better quality food, healthy food and services which will highlight the above four
will increase rapidly during this decade. opportunities available.
d) Farming will get more mechanized and
digitized and new business models will play an Industry Sector
integral part in this. Another integral sector which has contributed
significantly to the Indian economy is the Industry
Speaking of the specific opportunities for private sector.
enterprises, • Increasing industries ranging from traditional
1. Farmgate infrastructure. Government has iron and steel to juteand automobiles.
extended its support by offering One Lakh Crore • • Autonomising production, marketing, and
rupees to aid private enterprises to create farm gate distribution.
infrastructure. This would be in form of operational • Encouragement to both domestic investments
support. However, integrating physical infrastructure as well as FDIs.
with suitable digital systems and an ideal software to • Introduction of investment models such
create electronic warehouses with warehouse receipt as joint ventures, MNCs, and public-private
system. Concurrently, this may result in attracting partnerships.
bank funding for farmers and opening world class, • Enabling private players to enter new sectors
smart and modern transport systems. which were earlier under the reign of the
2. Connecting farmers with markets including government.
exports. The role of middlemen cannot be The story of an Adivasi Women hailing from
completely eradicated; however, the length of the Chhattisgarh is one of such examples of a self-
chain needs to be minimized. Investors can set up reliant India. As the pandemic spread like a wildfire,
aggregation platforms and parallelly set up a supply there was a shortage of hand sanitisers amongst
linkage with large retails chains and e commerce various other products. Women from Chhattisgarh

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