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The National
Policy on Agriculture (NPA) seeks to
actualize the vast untapped growth potential
of Indian agriculture to generate income and
employment opportunities for the rural
communities. It recognizes the role of
private sector in agricultural research,
human resource development, post-harvest
management and value-addition.
Also, the 10th
Five-Year Plan envisages a growth rate of 4%
per annum in the agriculture sector.
Achieving such a high growth rate requires
investments in research and extension as
well as interventions that can improve the
policy and institutional environment within
which agricultural producers, traders and
processors operate.
Given the
limited scope in area expansion, increase in
productivity, profitability and
competitiveness will be the main parameter
of agricultural growth in future. This
should be triggered by advances and
innovations in, and applications of science
in agriculture which basically would mean
shifting from input-based to knowledge-based
growth of Indian Agriculture.
In this paradigm
shift, R&D assumes more importance because
it is a cost-effective method for promoting
growth with sustainability while attaining
competitiveness. And for that,
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The
efficiency of R&D system needs to be
enhanced and the enabling environment to
be created.
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Innovative
ways of conducting research have to be
developed such as pursuing a ‘production
to consumption systems’ (PCS) approach
which comprises the entire set of
actors, materials, activities, services,
and institutions involved in the
growing, harvesting and handling of
particular commodity, transforming it
into a usable and/or high-value product,
and marketing the final product.
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A growing
regional imbalance in the country is
perceived. In a welfare state like
India, such a trend cannot be allowed to
continue and therefore special R&D
efforts to target the disadvantaged
areas should receive priority attention.
For example, in the vast dry land areas
where the possibility of large-scale
irrigation infrastructure development is
very limited, productivity can only be
enhanced through innovative and
appropriate technological advancements/
interventions, complemented with
institutional and policy support.
Participation
and empowerment of the stakeholders are
required to harness innovations in frontier
sciences in selected priority areas and to
break the yield and quality barriers for
satisfying the present and future national
needs.
The recently
concluded
National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP)
led by the ICAR, was aimed to implement the
shared understanding of the Government of
India and the World Bank on
technology-led-pro-poor growth, and it
facilitated the public sector reform process
for accelerating the flow of agricultural
technologies. The challenges, opportunities
and lessons learnt in the NATP have provided
a useful framework to move forward in the
development process.
A key lesson
from the NATP is that deliberate investments
in partnership building and shared
governance are required to speed up
technology adaptation and dissemination.
To fulfill the
GoI’s objectives as expressed in India’s NPA,
the ICAR has initiated
National Agricultural Innovation Project
(NAIP), which accords high priority to
generation and transfer of agricultural
technologies, and suggests innovations in
the technology system.
For more
information, please refer to
Project Implementation Plan (PIP). |
