Context:

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in an article titled ‘Indian Agriculture: Achievements and Challenges’ suggested that a second green revolution along with the next generation of reforms is required to make agriculture more climate-resistant and environmentally sustainable.

Achievement of Indian Agriculture:

• The article said Indian agriculture scaled new heights with record production of various foodgrains, commercial and horticultural crops, exhibiting resilience and ensuring food security during the COVID-19 period.

Challenges faced by Indian Agriculture:

• Food inflation and its volatility. 
• Crop productivity in India is much lower due to various factors, like fragmented landholdings, lower farm mechanization and lower public and private investment in agriculture.
• Environmentally Unsustainable: The overproduction of crops like rice, wheat and sugarcane, has led to rapid depletion of the ground-water table, soil degradation and massive air pollution.

Need to focus:

• Use technologies: The use of biotechnology and breeding will be important in developing eco-friendly, disease-resistant, climate-resilient, more nutritious and diversified crop varieties.
• Wider use of digital technology and extension services will be helpful in information sharing and generating awareness among the farmers.
• Arrest volatility: Better post-harvest loss-management and a revamp of co-operative movement through the formation of farmer-producer organizations (FPOs) can arrest the volatility in food prices and farmers’ income and help harness the true potential of Indian agriculture.

Conclusion:

• Addressing these challenges would require a second green revolution focussed on the agriculture water-energy nexus, making agriculture more climate resistant and environmentally sustainable. 

News Source: The Economic Times

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