Pawar urges Indian farmers to shift to manufacturing and service sectors

Expressing concern over increased dependence on agricultural land in the country, Federal Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar has emphasized the need for weaning away the rural population from agriculture and providing them alternative source of income in the manufacturing and service sectors.

Speaking after inaugurating a national seminar on “Mechanized Cultivation of Sugarcane and Safety-Quality Management in Sugar industry” in Bangalore, Pawar pointed out that 62 per cent of India’s population was dependent on agriculture and 82 per cent of the farming community owned less than a hectare.

“The burden on land is more now. Besides, growing industrialization and urbanization is eating up large tracts of land. This has made farmers to suffer more. Shifting them to service and manufacturing sector could be one of the better options at hand”, he said.

In contrast, the percentage of people engaged in agriculture was relatively small in developed countries. While Japan had only four percent of its population dependent on agriculture, US and England had six per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively. Unless a good percentage of the agriculture-dependent population is shifted to manufacturing and service sectors, it is difficult for India to become a developed country.

The sugar industry in the country was facing a bleak future in view of the glut of the commodity in the world. Though India had produced 9 million tonnes of sugar in the ensuing fiscal year, there is no demand for the commodity in the market as countries like Brazil, Australia, Thailand and South Africa had stepped up production. “With China entering the international sugar market in a big way by setting up 35 sugar production units of maximum capacity in the near future, the competition will become all the more stiff for Indian sugar industry”, he said.