SAGRO-Lite: A Light Weight Agent Based Semantic Model …
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7. Low soil fertility: One of the main problems of Indian agriculture is its low
productivity. Indian agricultural products are among the lowest in the world.
The main cause of low yield per hectare is the low fertility of soil and less care to
replenish it through green-manure, fertilizers, fallowing, and scientific rotation
of crops [27].
8. Industrialization and Urbanization: After the First Five Year Plan, Indian
agriculture got a step-motherly treatment. The farming community has been
ignored, while there has been more emphasis on industrialization and urbanization. The growth rate of agriculture is only about 2.5%, while the overall growth
rate of the country is about 9% (2010) [28]. The severe drought of 2009 over
greater part of the country has increased the miseries of the farmers, which is a
set-back in the revival of Indian economy [29, 30].
9. Low status of Agriculture in society: Gone are the days when agriculture
was regarded as a sign of dignity. This belief has gone a tumble as nowadays,
farming is the occupation possessed by the weaker sections of the society. So,
farming is looked down as a profession.
10. Farmers are poor and in debts: Although cultivators’ indebtedness is universal
in subsistent farming, its impact is perhaps nowhere as crushing as in India.
Unfortunately, over 85% of all the cultivating families are under debt. It
is because of heavy indebtedness that several thousand farmers in Andhra
Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Orissa, Gujarat, Punjab, and
Uttar Pradesh have committed suicide during the last ten years [30].
11. Specialized training is required: For the diffusion of agricultural innovations
both in the irrigated and rain-fed areas, a team of skilled village level workers
is required. A lot has to be done in this respect. The workers if trained can
capitalize the opportunities of farmers to modernize their agriculture.
12. Lack of agricultural research and poor education: Though enough progress
has been made in the field of agricultural research, there is no co-ordination
between the farm and research laboratories in the different agro-climatic regions
of the country. Hence, gains of new agricultural researches are not reaching
the common cultivators, especially the marginal and small farmers. Very little
attention is being paid for educating and training farmers for the adoption of new
agricultural innovations and techniques to increase their agricultural production.
13. Other Problems: There are numerous other problems also which are affecting
the agricultural production and rural economy and society adversely. For
example, unscientific methods of agriculture, inadequate irrigation facilities,
less use of chemical fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, less remunerative prices
of agricultural products, poverty, hunger, and malnutrition of farmers and lack of
infrastructural facilities like roads, water, irrigation, electricity, credit, banking,
and crop-insurance [31, 32].
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7. Low soil fertility: One of the main problems of Indian agriculture is its low
productivity. Indian agricultural products are among the lowest in the world.
The main cause of low yield per hectare is the low fertility of soil and less care to
replenish it through green-manure, fertilizers, fallowing, and scientific rotation
of crops [27].
8. Industrialization and Urbanization: After the First Five Year Plan, Indian
agriculture got a step-motherly treatment. The farming community has been
ignored, while there has been more emphasis on industrialization and urbanization. The growth rate of agriculture is only about 2.5%, while the overall growth
rate of the country is about 9% (2010) [28]. The severe drought of 2009 over
greater part of the country has increased the miseries of the farmers, which is a
set-back in the revival of Indian economy [29, 30].
9. Low status of Agriculture in society: Gone are the days when agriculture
was regarded as a sign of dignity. This belief has gone a tumble as nowadays,
farming is the occupation possessed by the weaker sections of the society. So,
farming is looked down as a profession.
10. Farmers are poor and in debts: Although cultivators’ indebtedness is universal
in subsistent farming, its impact is perhaps nowhere as crushing as in India.
Unfortunately, over 85% of all the cultivating families are under debt. It
is because of heavy indebtedness that several thousand farmers in Andhra
Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Orissa, Gujarat, Punjab, and
Uttar Pradesh have committed suicide during the last ten years [30].
11. Specialized training is required: For the diffusion of agricultural innovations
both in the irrigated and rain-fed areas, a team of skilled village level workers
is required. A lot has to be done in this respect. The workers if trained can
capitalize the opportunities of farmers to modernize their agriculture.
12. Lack of agricultural research and poor education: Though enough progress
has been made in the field of agricultural research, there is no co-ordination
between the farm and research laboratories in the different agro-climatic regions
of the country. Hence, gains of new agricultural researches are not reaching
the common cultivators, especially the marginal and small farmers. Very little
attention is being paid for educating and training farmers for the adoption of new
agricultural innovations and techniques to increase their agricultural production.
13. Other Problems: There are numerous other problems also which are affecting
the agricultural production and rural economy and society adversely. For
example, unscientific methods of agriculture, inadequate irrigation facilities,
less use of chemical fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, less remunerative prices
of agricultural products, poverty, hunger, and malnutrition of farmers and lack of
infrastructural facilities like roads, water, irrigation, electricity, credit, banking,
and crop-insurance [31, 32].