Sustainable Agriculture: Potential and Strategies for Development

We can ignore the state of global and national land and water resources only at our great peril. We tend to assume that environmental degradation is a contemporary condition, but there is historical evidence to show that cultures rise and fall on their agricultural base’s ability to support the rest of society. The balance between population and agricultural productivity becomes more and more precarious as a society becomes more complex and the drive for a continuing food supply to support all the non-producers places more and more demands upon land and water resources. We now face a scenario in which global exploitation of resources has expanded a local environmental phenomenon into a world-scale problem. Already, 6% of the earth’s surface is classified as extreme desert, and a further 29% is subject to varying degrees of desertification. Any expansion in the extent or intensity of agricultural production would require sustainable management of the land-water-vegetation system. The paper discussed the issues and strategies which may find an answer to ensure sustainable development of agricultural sector in India.