Surinder Sud: Bringing the youth back into agriculture

It is a matter of worry that in a farm-based economy like India, rural youth are shirking agriculture to migrate to cities for better career opportunities. A new scheme, if implemented properly, can arrest this trend

Rural youth are, by and large, disillusioned with agriculture. This is true of not only those belonging to small and marginal farming families but even of those operating medium and large farms. Worse still, the educated rural youth, including agricultural graduates, are almost totally disinclined to take up farming. Even the majority of farmers do not want their next generation to continue with their traditional profession. They wish them to settle down in urban areas.

Given that nearly 35 per cent of the country's population falls in the 15-35 age bracket and roughly 75 per cent of them live in rural areas, disenchantment with agriculture on such a large scale is a matter of worry. If the bulk of this population opts to migrate to cities, it would put a great strain on the already overburdened urban centres. Besides, it would be a huge loss for the agriculture-based rural economy as the youth possess the greatest potential to transform farming into a science- and knowledge-based enterprise.

The reasons for the youth's lack of interest in agriculture are many. Low profitability of agriculture, drudgery of farm chores, poor quality of life in the rural areas and the rapidly shrinking size of landholdings are the most significant among them. Many landholdings are turning unviable due to unabated fragmentation of land. The rural youth see no future in tilling such tiny farms. Moreover, with the rise in their aspirations, thanks partly to their increased exposure to mass media, the rural youth are now looking for a better life and greater employment opportunities. The only way to prevent them from leaving the villages is by ensuring better economic prospects for them in agriculture and its allied fields and improving the quality of life in the rural belt.

The need for such a strategy to keep youth in agriculture was first voiced by the National Commission on Farmers, headed by noted farm expert M S Swaminathan, in its fifth and final report in 2006. "The youth can be attracted to and retained in farming only if it becomes economically rewarding and intellectually satisfying", the commission had observed. It had also stressed the need for providing essential facilities such as power, roads, education and health care, among others, in rural areas. Besides, it had called for changes in the curricula of agricultural universities to prepare and train the youth for taking up agriculture on scientific lines or engaging in agriculture-related income-generating ventures. Every scholar should be a potential entrepreneur. At the policy level, the commission had counselled integration of on-farm and non-farm rural employment strategies.

Thankfully, a move is now afoot to implement part of the commission's recommendations by initiating a programme to train and equip the rural youth with such skills as would allow them to earn a good income within the broad farm and non-farm rural sectors. The new scheme, Arya (Attracting and Retaining Youth in Agriculture), has recently been launched by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. The programme is planned to be implemented through Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK or farm science centres) in 25 states. Each KVK would train about 200 to 300 youth in taking up agriculture's allied and supplementary activities such as beekeeping, poultry farming, dairying, fisheries, goat rearing, mushroom production, value-addition through food processing, seed processing, soil testing and similar others depending on their aptitude and capability. The so trained prospective young entrepreneurs would be assisted in preparing project reports for seeking bank loans.

If implemented efficiently, this programme can help keep the rural youth attached to agriculture, directly or indirectly, without necessarily tilling the land. They can, in fact, become the harbingers of change in the broad rural sector. However, the success of this move would depend critically on simultaneous efforts to improve the quality of life in rural areas by creating urban-like facilities there. Unless that happens, the urge among the rural youth, especially the educated ones, to move to cities may not be effectively curbed.

surinder.sud@gmail.com