R&D Investment and Agricultural Development-An Overview
Price: ₹ 1000
Author: Mahima G. Ghabru1, Diksha Sethi2, and K.D. Sharma3
Keywords: Agricultural productivity, agriculture research, investment.
JEL Codes: 123, Q16, Q1, Q10.
Abstract
The country has managed to fare well at the foodgrain production front with laudable growth but still ensuring food and nutritional security sustainably at an affordable rate to a teeming population is a major challenge. Ensuring sustainable food supply for this huge population is a daunting task and requires an emphasis on enhancing agricultural productivity. Though the solution seems simple it has its own share of setbacks viz., deteriorating natural resource base, declining total factor productivity, climate change, the spike in global prices, inadequate investment on agricultural R&D, etc. Public spending on agriculture is one of the key policy instruments of the government to promote growth and alleviate poverty in rural areas. Apart from various other spendings by the government on agriculture, the most integral investment is on Agricultural Research and Education which promotes various innovations and techniques that eventually enhance agricultural productivity. The country despite making huge progress in agricultural production still does not spend enough on agricultural research. The expenditure on agricultural research as a share of AgGDP fell slightly from 0.34 to 0.30 percent between 2000 and 2014. Increased R&D investments offer the possibilities to enhance the quantity and quality of agricultural outputs, control costs, increased income source, resilient to climate change, greater food security and better nutrition. The desired results of investment in R&D can only be achieved if concerted efforts are also made towards linking the farming community or ensuring the dissemination of these innovations at the grass-root level.
Description
Indian Journal of Economics and Development
Volume 16 No. SS, 2020, 536-539
DOI: 10.35716/tsoed-2020/NS20-066
Indexed in Clarivate Analytics (ESCI) of WoS
Mahima G. Ghabru1, Diksha Sethi2, and K.D. Sharma3
Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension Education & Rural Sociology, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh
2Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension Education & Rural Sociology, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh
and3Principal Scientist, Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension Education & Rural Sociology, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh
Corresponding author’s email: mahimaghabru16@gmail.com