AGRICULTURE-INDUSTRY

DEVELOPMENT

The agriculture-industry interface Paradigm states that in order to achieve economic growth there

should be equity-based interaction between agriculture and industry. A prosperous agricultural

sector provides the basis for a sound industrial sector. A general perception of a developed world

would always create a picture of an Industrially Prosperous World. Agricultural sector is always

Considered as the Younger brother in development, whereas industrial development is

considered as the big brother. Agricultural sector provides the raw material for the industrial

sector. Industrial sector alone cannot thrive on its own. For a country to grow economically it is

important for both the sectors to go hand in hand1.

Various ways should be adopted in order to boost the contribution of agriculture to development.

A) One of the ways in which agriculture can be boosted is through agriculture marketing

information system as it is necessary to ensure flow of regular and reliable data to producers,

consumers and traders to derive maximum benefit of their sales and purchases. An attempt has

been made been made to identify the various pattern of awareness, sources, utilization and its

benefits, constraint, and expectations to agricultural marketing information (AMI) among the

traders in the study area of two regulated markets namely, Mawiong Regulated Market in

Mylliem Block of East Khasi Hills and Garobadha Regulated Market in Selsella Block of West

Garo Hills district of Meghalaya. The sample size consisted of 40 traders from both selected
regulated market, areas were selected for the study based on purposive and random sampling

technique. From the findings of the research study, it was revealed that the degree of awareness

on prices in local markets placed the followed by arrivals in local markets, arrivals and prices in

reference markets. It was observed that traders were always relied on contacts in other market

and fellow traders for market information. Newspaper placed the III rank on degree of awareness

of AMI sources among the traders. It was clearly seen that the agricultural market information

was utilized by traders in deciding price to be quoted, followed by the quantity to be purchased

and the quantity to be store. It was observed that traders were most benefited by changing time of

sale, followed by mode of storage. Various ways can be adopted in order to enhance the

information flow by agriculture marketing system: -

1) sparse inhabitation and geographical barriers worked as a limiting factor in creating desirable

agricultural marketing information system (AMIS) infrastructure in remote hills region of East

Khasi Hills and West Garo Hills of Meghalaya, but the modern Information and Communication

Technology (ICT) in connection with Agricultural Marketing Information (AMI) needs to be

given due consideration.

2) It is necessary to ensure flow of regular and reliable data to producers, traders and consumers

to derive maximum benefit of their sales and purchases.

3) Emphasis should be given on delivery mechanism of information, so that market information

reaches timely to the end users in the hilly regions of Meghalaya.

4) Proper integration of various agencies for adequate and efficient dissemination of vital

agricultural marketing information, so that it will act as an ‘one stop solution’ for the needs of

the farming community in hilly regions of Meghalaya.

aspects in public institutions like State Department of Agricultural Marketing, Agricultural

Universities etc. with modern communication technology.

6) The AMI should be delivered fast, reliable and accurate information in a user-friendly manner

for utilization by the farmers and other stakeholders in order to facilitate the farmers to decide

what and when make crop and marketing planning, how to cultivate, when and how to harvest,

what post-harvest management practices to follow, when, where, how to sell etc. of the

agricultural produce in the study area.

7) Creating awareness among farmers and other intended beneficiaries on the importance of

agricultural market information and its optimum utilization for overall development of

agriculture in the state2.

B) Innovations in agricultural marketing, case of e tendering in Karnataka, India.

Agricultural markets in India are underdeveloped and imperfect, and lack both horizontal as well

as vertical integration. The supply chains for agricultural commodities are long and dominated

by a number of intermediaries, leading to a considerable price spread from their point of

production to end-consumption. In other words, there exists inefficiency in agricultural

marketing system. The transfer of farm produce to end-consumers involves at least four

intermediaries without adding any value to the produce. This reduces producers’ share in

consumer’s rupee, especially in case of perishable commodities. Price discovery is not

transparent and underpricing is quite common. Lack of infrastructure, grading and adequate

standards is another major problem. Only about 7% of the marketed surplus is graded at farm

level. Multiple taxes, market fees and multiple licensing systems have added to the complexities
of the agricultural marketing, besides increasing the transaction costs. In order to improve

marketing efficiency or transparency, the Government of India amended the Agricultural

Produce Market Committee Act (Model APMC act 2003) that provides for direct sale of farm

produce to consumers and contractors, establishment of special and private markets,

infrastructure development, single levy of market fee and freedom to market functionaries to

operate in different markets through registration. Karnataka is the leading state in implementing

the Model Act, 2003. The state introduced e-tendering system, an innovative approach for price

discovery, adopting the modern information communication technology to encourage fair

marketing practices and to ensure competitive prices to farmers for their produce. The results

indicate that e-tendering has been successful in reducing transaction time, bringing transparency

in price discovery and increasing market revenue, besides enhancing market competition. The

findings of this study have clearly brought out that e-tendering system has considerable potential

to infuse competition and transparency in agricultural markets, and to reduce costs of trade for

both buyers and sellers without adversely affecting their trade relations and revenue.

Farmers benefit from e-trading, and there is a need to create awareness among farmers of the

benefits of e trading and build their capacity in online banking and grading of produce at farm

level. Also, there is a need to organize farmers into collectives to enable them to capture benefits

of scale in marketing Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) are

the options for this. Farmers feel that farm-level grading of produce is expensive while market

officials feel that the practice of grading in the market yard would be time consuming. Our study

reflects those traders have a strong preference for physical examination of produce to ensure

product quality. This has a bearing on the concept of national market integration wherein the

product is traded based on online grade specifications. Hence, establishment of adequate

assaying facilities for grading and quality is important3.

A shift from agriculture to manufacturing has been one of the hallmarks of job creation, poverty

reduction, and rapid growth in low-income countries around the world. Industrialization is also

one of the pillars of the African Union’s Agenda 2063—the blueprint for transforming the

continent into a global powerhouse. one of the signs for industrialization in Africa are

encouraging. The most comprehensive information about manufacturing employment in Africa

only covers 18 countries, but based on those data, manufacturing employment in Africa’s

lowland middle-income countries increased from 6 million to more than 20 million from 2000 to

2018, raising the share of employment in manufacturing from 7.2 percent to 8.4 percent. In

comparison, the 1990s saw zero growth in Africa’s manufacturing employment. Manufacturing

exports from African nations have also grown at an annual average of 9.5 percent per year since

2018.

Manufacturing has made an important contribution to raising living standards in many parts of

the world. Concerns about premature deindustrialization have made some observers skeptical

about the potential for manufacturing to play this role in Africa. But employment in African

manufacturing has grown rapidly over the past 20 years. These employment gains have been

accompanied by: (i) large increases in the number of small manufacturing firms; (ii) limited

employment gains in large firms; and (iii) robust labor productivity growth in Africa's large

firms. Limited employment growth in Africa's large manufacturing firms is partly a result of the

capital intensity of the manufacturing subsectors in which African countries are most engaged—

the processing of resources—and partly a result of rising capital intensity in manufacturing. The

potential for manufacturing to raise living standards in Africa depends on indirect job creation by
large firms through backward and forward linkages and increasing labor productivity in small

firms4.

A rich agricultural sector clearly facilitates industrial development. The income earned in the

sector provides the purchasing power necessary for the setting up of minimum viable sizes of

industrial plant, high grow cultural productivity by satisfying food requirements more easily can

permit the release of Labor for work in the industry. Food is supplied cheaply to industrial

workers. The term of trade between agricultural and industrial products, thus being favorable to

the development of the industrial sector. The supply of savings and of tax revenue from a rich

agricultural sector can be used to promote general development and so on.

Industrial development has had an important role in the economic growth of countries like

China, the Republic of Korea (Korea), Taiwan Province of China (Taiwan), and Indonesia.

Along with accelerated growth, poverty rates have declined in many countries. Some countries

have managed to achieve growth with equity, whereas in others inequality has remained high. In

this chapter, the growth stories of seven countries – China, India, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia,

Mexico and Brazil – are described and discussed. The main emphasis is on describing their

growth processes and strategies, the role of industrial development, the contribution of a range of

policies to growth performance, and the impact of growth on poverty and income inequality.

Healthy, sustainable and inclusive food systems are critical to achieve the world’s development

goals. Agricultural development is one of the most powerful tools to end extreme poverty, boost

shared prosperity, and feed a projected 9.7 billion people by 2050. Growth in the agriculture
sector is two to four times more effective in raising incomes among the poorest compared to

other sectors. Analyses in 2016 found that 65% of poor working adults made a living through

agriculture.

Agriculture is also crucial to economic growth: in 2018, it accounted for 4% of global gross

domestic product (GDP) and in some developing countries, it can account for more than 25% of

GDP.

Risks associated with poor diets are also the leading cause of death worldwide. Millions of

people are either not eating enough or eating the wrong types of food, resulting in a double

burden of malnutrition that can lead to illnesses and health crises. A 2021 report found that

between 720 and 811 million people went hungry in 2020, more than 10% of the world's

population5.

Industrialization is the development of industries in a country or region on a broad scale. This

development has many advantages. The main advantage comes from the fact that

industrialization gives us more goods that can be bought at affordable prices. When an economy

industrializes, things are made more rapidly and in higher quantity. This means prices can go

down and a lot of other goods can be made. A myriad of economic benefits stems from this

particular development.

As mentioned, the first advantage of industrialization is the growth of industries resulting from

large scale production of goods which are sold to consumers at much affordable rates. Through

industrialization, machines help people do their work more quickly. As productivity is

optimized, more products are made, and therefore, the surplus results in cheaper prices. Some

may argue that this advantage is the most significant one as it affects economic growth
immensely. Cheap goods are very convenient for consumer, and more normal people can avail

them.

In conclusion, industrialization has resulted in a substantial rise in the standard of living of

people. Due to the presence of various industries, people are getting the newer type of products

such as automobiles, furniture, appliances, clothes, etc. which improves the ordinary people’s

standard of living. Without the technological changes of the industrialization, population growth

could have been substantially reduced due to poor standard of living with only expensive goods

available in the market. industrialization creates new job opportunities, resulting to reduction of

poverty to a great extent. It generates employment opportunities by developing industries for the

people. At the same time, the usual areas that you can count on to increase business often are

reduced in a tough economic environment. Consumers buy fewer goods. Businesses hire fewer

employees who need insurance. Large insurance companies are relatively stable, but they can

rely on downsizing to remain viable. For the most part, industrialization guarantees insurance for

stability in people’s careers. After all, businesses and individuals alike need some sort of

insurance no matter what state the economy is in.

Economic development is a process of structural transformation, and agriculture is the essential

engine to jumpstart the process. Ending hunger and undernutrition are also important goals of

agricultural modernization and for economic transformation. A huge portion of our population is

based on agriculture. India is an agriculturally based economy. The majority of India’s poor

(some 770 million people or about 70 percent) are found in rural areas. India’s food security

depends on producing cereal crops, as well as increasing its production of fruits, vegetables and

milk to meet the demands of a growing population with rising incomes. To do so, a productive,

competitive, diversified and sustainable agricultural sector will need to emerge at an accelerated

pace. An Agriculturally and industrially sound economy would lead to the best version of
development. A country can't be developed until the poorest of its people are able to enjoy equal

opportunities, and since most of the poor of our country are dependent on agriculture as their

only means of earning a living, it’s a necessity to work on the development of the sector. It will

create a space where even the poor of our country and the world will be able to live a better

standard of life6.

SOURCES:

1) https://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/59845/1/Agriculture%20Industry%20Interf

ace.pdf

2) http://ndpublisher.in/admin/issues/EAV60I2n.pdf

3) file:///C:/Users/PRACHI/Downloads/05-S-Pavitra.pdf

4) jep.36.1.3.pdf

5) https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/05/17/india-agriculture-issues-

priorities

6) https://www.ifpri.org/blog/agriculture-key-economic-transformation-food-security-and-

nutrition#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20central%20goals,food%20security%20and%20i

mproving%20nutrition.