| |
Agricultural growth contributes 18 per cent to GDP in the country but at the cost of land water resources, albeit, ensured food security and employment to larger extent. Irrigation appears to be the major driving force for realizing increasing agricultural production from the available land. The degradation of rural environment arises from two major sources-from deforestation and degradation of land on account if the loss of vegetative cover, resulting in low water table and loss of top soil. The book examines the growth of agriculture, poverty and environment degradation in West Bengal-a state where the growth rate of agriculture is comfortably higher than many leading states. There was a switch to high-yielding varieties, a shift towards cash crops like oilseeds and vegetables, and a substantial expansion of multiple cropping. The result has been that the benefits of agricultural growth in the 1980s and 1990s have been relatively unevenly shared, which is probably not unrelated to the fact that West Bengal has been one of the states where the decline in poverty is faster. The share of the poor went from 73 per cent in 1973-74 the highest across all states in the country-to 32 per cent in 1999-2000. Despite the awareness among the people, the impact of agriculture growth is widely associated with environment degradation in the state. Simultaneously the growth did not effectively help in reducing poverty in an effective way.
ISBN : 9788183872294
|
| |
Pages : 113
|