Context

• Vice president Venkaiah Naidu has called for measures to prevent agro brain drain and attract educated youth to take up farming as a profession. He opined that the future of Indian agriculture lies in the hands of technology-driven farming practices, powered by well- informed and modern-minded farmers. 

A Glance at issue of Agro Brain Drain

• In today’s scenario, there is a huge migration of skilled manpower towards developed countries for the better economic opportunities which is leading to mainly 3 types of migration and they are as follows:

1. Migration from Poor to Rich countries
2. Migration within states (mostly Rural to urban)
3. Migration from the Agriculture sector towards the Industrial or Service sector.

The drain of labour from the Agriculture sector has increased mainly because of 2 reasons

(i) Agriculture is not considered as economically sustainable.

(ii) Due to excessive use of chemical fertilisers, most of the land is facing the problem of desertification and practicing Agriculture becomes difficult.

Main Areas of Brain-Drain 

There are certain areas where India’s strength lies which can tapped to realise the full potential:

1. Horticulture
2. Food processing
3. Landscape gardening
4. Development of machineries
5. Precision farming
6. Biotechnology, etc.

A Way towards Sustainable Agriculture

• As of now, food security needs to be ensured along with nutritional security which can be ensured via diversification in agriculture for ensuring sustainability and it is a more lucrative option.
• The role of technology has increased in areas like poultry, dairy, fisheries and allied activities which need to be utilised as well as techniques like solar farming, saline based cultivation, low water cultivation, horticulture in artificial environment, etc. has to be taken into account at the policy level.
• Input cost needs to be reduced and the price fixation rights has to be given to the farmers for ensuring better stability in Agriculture.
• Additional capital requirements need to be met for adoption of new techniques.
• Technology awareness needs to be created among the masses and the technology gap has  to be addressed.
• Practising organic farming is beneficial for all stakeholders including the farmers, the consumers and the environment.

Conclusion

• The right kind of impetus has to be given to the farmers in order to increase the share of agriculture in the country’s GDP as agriculture is the pillar of India’s ecology, culture and civilisation. 

Reference:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQX6NpHKQcI&list=PLVOgwA_DiGzoqQsGjmamTu6f453RWpm_I