Agri-business, not agri-culture, is the need............?

“To succeed in India, agribusiness must empower the farmer by making agriculture profitable, not by expropriating him,”. Small and marginal farmers who cultivate less than two hectares of land account for more than 80 per cent of all holdings and almost 40 per cent of cultivated area.The biggest factor in India’s favour in the world food market is that of a low-cost advantage. Agri-business could become the safest bet for India during this recessionary period, Indian agriculture cannot continue to be what it is. It has to change in its soil use and cropping pattern, post-harvest processing technologies and its approach to pricing and marketing. But for a minority, agriculture has come to be synonymous with poverty, inefficiency and uncertainty. A conceptual change, a paradigm shift to view agriculture as a business has become a necessity, especially in the backdrop of emerging globalisation.
         Modern technologies, like tissue culture, hybrid seeds, planting materials are key components of modern agriculture. The importance of seeds and seedlings in the overall growth and yield of any crop cannot be overemphasised now, especially in the context of the need for tapping export market.
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