Rural Sustainability for Security, Prosperity, Peace and Happiness
By A K Singh | 30-04-2020 | Page: 1-12
Abstract
Agriculture faced numerous calamities leading to import of food grain for the first time in 1921, that grew to alarming level in later years. Independent India accorded highest priority to agricultural development with establishment of projects of irrigation and power generation and implementation of programs for green, white and blue revolutions leading to self-sufficiency in food with surpluses for export. However, supporting 17 percent world’s population just with share of 2.4 percent land and 4 percent water is hilarious task that bring pressure on resources. Exploitation of selective resources for increasing productivity has started showing distress signs in many areas. With least possibility of increasing share from available land and water for agriculture, the country has to manage sustainability to maintain food and nutritional security, prosperity, peace and happiness for population dependent on agricultural. Therefore, there is need for holistic cluster-based integrated development to improve rural infrastructure for education, health, road and transport, enable agricultural mechanization, processing and value addition and supply chain with training and skill development to benefit rural stakeholders. This paper attempts to suggest one such model for a cluster, which will improve further with water conservation and irrigation automation bringing in additional area under irrigation.