India's agriculture sector is set to experience stronger growth in the 2024-25 fiscal year, thanks to the favourable monsoon season, according to P K Mishra, the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.
Mishra expressed his optimism about the year, citing the positive monsoon conditions as a key factor contributing to the expected growth.
He mentioned in an interview with the media agency that the good monsoon has created an encouraging environment for agricultural progress, offering a hopeful outlook for the sector in the coming months.
In the previous fiscal year, India's agriculture and allied sectors had seen a slowdown, with the growth rate dropping to just 1.4%.
However, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had recently indicated that the sector is expected to grow at a rate of 3.5-4% in the current fiscal year, driven by the favourable weather conditions.
This would mark a significant recovery from the previous year, which saw much slower growth due to various factors affecting the industry.
Mishra pointed out that from 2016-17 to 2022-23, the agriculture and allied sectors had been growing at an average annual rate of 5%, thanks in large part to the strong performance of livestock and fisheries.
The resilience of the sector during the challenging period of the COVID-19 pandemic was also highlighted, as it continued to contribute significantly to India's overall economic growth, even as other sectors faced severe disruptions.
Despite this optimistic outlook, challenges still remain in specific areas, particularly in the production of pulses and oilseeds.
While the output of pulses has seen a considerable increase, rising from 14 million tonnes a decade ago to 24-25 million tonnes today, India still relies on imports to meet its full demand and is not yet self-sufficient in this area.
Mishra assured that significant progress is being made in research efforts aimed at increasing domestic production to reduce reliance on imports.
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