Agri sector records growth with annual rate of 4.6% over last 6 years

India’s agriculture sector has been witnessing robust growth with an average annual growth rate of 4.6 per cent over the last six years. This has enabled the agriculture and allied activities sector to contribute significantly towards the country’s overall growth, development and food security, said the Economic Survey 2022-23 tabled in Parliament by Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday. Further in recent years the country has emerged as the net exporter of agricultural products, with exports in 2021-22 touching a record US $ 50.2 billion. The Survey attributes the sector’s growth and buoyancy to the “measures taken by the government to augment crop and livestock productivity, ensure certainty of returns to the farmers through price support (Minimum Support Price), promote crop diversification” and focused interventions to “enhance credit availability, facilitate mechanization and boost horticulture and organic farming”. The Survey observes that these interventions are in line with the recommendations of the Committee on Doubling of Farmers’ Income.