An Emerging Trend among Youth to Disengage from Indian Agriculture: A Serious need for Policy Intervention

Abstract

India is an agrarian country where most of its population depends on agricultural activities directly or indirectly. In this case, it is a matter of serious concern that there is an emerging trend in the country’s youth to disengage from agriculture as a profession. If this situation remains continues, agriculture faces a scarcity of manpower. Hence in this context, there is a serious need for policy intervention for the sustainable development of agriculture. This paper is based on a study conducted in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra where the agrarian crisis is at its peak. For this study three, the most affected districts were Yavatmal, Amaravati, and Buldhana selected. In these districts, 150 agrarian households and 50 agricultural officials were selected based on purposive sampling to understand this emerging trend among youth to disengage from agriculture as a profession. This paper concluded with important suggestions to the policy makers for attracting youth towards agriculture.