Need to See Agriculture as Modern Biz Enterprise; Urgent Reforms Required: Economic Survey 2021

New Delhi: Lauding the farm sector for demonstrating resilience during the pandemic, the Economic Survey on Friday suggested the government to see farm sector as a “modern business enterprise” for which “urgent reforms” are required to enable sustainable and consistent growth. According to the Survey, the farm sector has got “renewed thrust” due to various measures on credit, market reforms and food processing under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat announcements. Stating that the progress in agriculture has a bearing on the fate of the largest low-income group in India, the Survey said: “There is a need for a paradigm shift in how we view agriculture from a rural livelihood sector to a modern business enterprise.” In this context, both production and post production in agriculture needs urgent reforms to enable sustainable and consistent growth, it said. On the post-production front, the Survey suggested that measures like village level procurement centres, linkages between production and processing, development of rural markets, option of selling outside the APMC markets warehouse upgradations and strengthening of railways freight operations, dedicated freight corridors among others are needed and are being taken up.