Agriculture and increasing food prices rise

These days if you happen to meet any common citizen of India and ask him about the most annoying, painful and consistent problem he is facing these days, in all probability, a majority of Indian citizens will say- “It’s huge rise in prices of common food items of daily needs”.

Believe it or not, but in India, inflation is taking it toll on each and everybody. Except for the privilege few – most Indians are feeling the heat in their domestic front. The prices of all food prices – be it vegetables, Fruits, Dairy Products, Cereals or You name what – almost every food item has become costly. The budget of most Indian family has become extremely tight and many people are making daily adjustment in their needs and demands.

So why food items have become so costly in India? Is it a conspiracy by traders/black marketers who have hoarded most of the material in their hidden shops ? Or is it a game plan by all the opposition parties in India? Or a Divine but cruel justice for our collective sins?

You may guess any of the answer you want. But the fact is that this entire problem has its roots in our failure and gross negligence to give the Agriculture- the due importance it deserves.

Do you know that :

According to the World Bank, transporting grapes to the Netherlands from India costs more than twice as much as transporting them from Chile, even though Chile is twice as far.

This year (i.e. in 2010), for the first time in the country’s history, India’s factories may contribute more to GDP than its farms, forests and fisheries.

The above two basically are part of an extremely interesting and informative article recently published in The Economist’ on the state of Indian Agriculture which explains all.

Read the story here : Agriculture in India :  Crop circles