Attracting Youth towards Agriculture as a Profession

It seems that in our country, forty-eight years are more than enough to wipe out the spirit that has hailed India as an agricultural country for many centuries. In 1965, the then PM Lal Bahadur Shastri gave the slogan of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’—a slogan that not only swept the nation in a wave of collective ardour. This slogan marked the dawn of a new age of individual and national progress that helped  India establish itself as an emerging power on the world-map; this slogan laid down the seeds of a green revolution the likes of which world would have never seen before; this slogan filled every young man with the passion to serve his nation as a jawan, and invoked swelling pride in the heart of every kisan. 

Five decades and three restatements later, there is little emotion this slogan manages to arouse. With the heavy emphasis on chemical methods of enhancing field produce and increased use of stronger pesticides and insecticides to ward off insects that have developed resistance to the milder versions, agriculture has lost the divine appeal it once held. In times like this, it is really important that concrete measures be taken to make agriculture a lucrative career option. Ensuring adequate participation of youth in agriculture sector promises the development of sustainable, yet profitable practices. This disinterest of youth however, is not a recent phenomenon. In fact it has been bubbling up subliminally level for a very long time now, and the fact that government has not done enough to deal with this problem seems like a black comedy. Sixty years into independence and there is still a dearth of professional or certified diploma courses in the field of farming or agriculture.

Ironically, the private sector of our country seems to have been more aware of this occurrence. With many foreign tractor brands entering the Indian market, the young generation’s interest in farming is restricted to owning the best brand of  farming equipment as it echoes one’s affluence. Very recently was launched in the market a revolutionary tractor innovation in the form of AC Cabin tractor which has already seen a keen interest from youth. What we really need is more alluring prospects of profit and prosperity so that this legacy of farming that has been an absolute part of our heritage since ancient times, is passed on to the next generation before it sees its dying days.