ARYA PDKV

1. Dr.Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidhyapeeth, Akola
Post Graduate Institute, Akola
Master Seminar
On
ARYA: Luring Youth Back To Agriculture
Submitted to,
Dr. V. S. Tekale
Head & Seminar Incharge
DEPARTMENT OF EXTENSION EDUCATION
Post Graduate Institute, Akola
Submitted by,
Sunil Kr. Meena
MSc Agri 2nd
Year (Extn Edu.)
Dept. of Extension Education, PGI, Akola
DEPARTMENT OF EXTENSION EDUCATION
DR. PDKV, Akola
2018-19

2. ARYA: LURING YOUTH BACK TO AGRUCULTURE
Introduction
Agriculture’s share in India’s economy is significant, albeit in decline. Although
the sector accounted the share of gross domestic product (GDP) next to industry and
services, it remains the leading industry for employing close to two thirds of the country’s
working population. However, India is losing more than 2,000 farmers every single day
and that since 1991; the overall number of farmers has dropped by 15 million till 2013.
At the beginning of independence there was a belief for the selection of
livelihood that, “Excellent farming, Average business, Worst service ’’, now-a-days
it is totally opposite. This has several implications for the future of Indian agriculture and
India’s food security. Experts felt that there is need to attract youths towards agriculture
because they can play an important role in ensuring food security if they are encouraged
to involve in farming and the challenges they face are addressed. Because more than
half of the country’s population is below the age of 30 years and according to the UN
International Labour Organization (ILO) young people are more susceptible to be
unemployed than adults.
(Source : National Youth Convention-2016)
Fig 1: Would you quit farming if you get employed in the city ?
62%
13%
26%
Ready to quit farming for
a good job in the city
Notready to quitfarming
Despite goodcityjob
Can’t say

3. This figure shows that majority (62.00 per cent) youth are ready to quit farming
for a good job in the city, while only 26.00 per cent youth are not ready to quit farming
despite good city job. This figure concluded that youth avoid farming for job security in
the urban areas.
 Challenges besetthe youth today :
 Lack of focus on the youth.
Youth issues in the region have not been tackled adequately due to several
factors: a) lack of reliable data concerning youth; b) insufficient political will and
earmarked resources; and c) lack of coordination among government ministries
and involvement with NGOs, the private sector and academia.
 High rate of youth unemployment.
The average rate of youth unemployment is estimated at 12.60%. For young
people, jobs do not only provide a source but also dignity and self-respect.
 High rate of youth migration.
Many young people choose to migrate to seek better lives. Level of urbanization
increased from 27.81% in 2001 census to 31.16% in 2011 census.
 Lack of national youth policies.
While some countries have well-developed and stand-alone national youth
policies which are embedded in their constitutions, others still lack coherent
youth policies with various government agencies responsible for covering
different youth issues. Only a few national youth policies have been developed
and implemented that draws upon the specific needs of young people.
 Limited role of youth in decision-making processes.
Youth is facing the continue challenge of limited role in decision-making
processes due to a lack of structured and institutionalized opportunities. Through
social media, access to information and other new networking tools, young

4. people across the country have better opportunities to become more politically
active and find space for the realization of their aspirations.
Why does agriculturenotattract the youths?
1. Personal factors:
 Expectation of while collar job in new generation
 Low level of aspiration amongst the farmers to bring their children in farming
profession
 Diversified professional interest in new generation of educated children of farmers
 Low preference of new generation of farmers to settle in villages or rural area
 Deprived interest amongst children of farmers to work under sunlight, rain and cold
with drudgery oriented work of farming
 Poor awareness, skill and attitude of young farmers for farming
2. Social factors
 Low value in society of farming as profession
 Marriage issue: Girls of new generation do not prefer farmer as life partner
 Wrong impression in society that person who cannot do anything can be a part of
farming
 Educational aspiration of parents for their children to earn high social status
restricted their children to involve in family farming
3. Economic factors
 Low return
 High investment
 Economically risky – nature dependent profession
 High cost of inputs like fertilizers, agro-chemicals, implements, hybrid seeds,
labours
4. Psychological factors
 Low risk orientation
 Poor knowledge in young generation

5.  Poor interest
 Negative attitude towards profession
 Poor agriculture market orientation
 Poor agriculture scientific orientation
 Poor confidence
 Poor agriculture innovativeness
5. Situational factors
 Poor irrigation facility
 Poor interest of family members to work in farming
 Cultural norms restrict female to work in farming in few casts
 Poor construction of canals
 Very low level Water table
 Unavailability of low cost irrigation systems
 Poor knowledge and practicability of drip irrigation systems
 Bad quality of available water for irrigation
 Fragmentation of land into unconventional shape and size, so due to poor
mechanization drudgery is not reducing
6. Market related factors
 Unavailability of market facility
 Uncertainty of market
 Cost of products is decided by purchaser not producer
 Costly Transport for marketing
 Poor availability of value addition units and processing units
 Dominancy of middle man in marketing
 Ineffective cooperative Marketing systems for vegetables and fruits and other
agricultural
products
 Unorganized system of marketing through contract system

6. 7. Labor related factors
 Unavailability of skilled labours for farming
 Monopoly of labour due to industrialization
 Negative impact of MGNREGA on availability of labour
 Unavailability of labours as and when needed – Timely and Numbers
 Negative impact of migration of labours for construction work
8. Next generation related factors
 Preference of new generation
 Poor interest
 Educated new generation prefers other than agricultural profession
 Second generation likes to settle in urban area after taking higher education
 Poor facility of education, infrastructure, communication in rural area restrict 2nd
generation to settle in rural area for family farming
9. Family planning
Because of family planning concept human resource availability of own family is less.
Earlier farmers believed to have 3 to 4 male children. New concept of one son + one
daughter concept has created adverse situation for availability of family human
resource
(Source : Chauhan and Patel 2014)
Need of Attracting and Retaining youth towards agriculture (ARYA )
 It is a matter of worry that in a farming economy like that of India, rural youth are
looking down at agriculture with disdain and moving to towns, cities and urban
centres in search of better jobs.
 Rural youth, apparently, are disillusioned with the country’s agriculture. Be it a
marginal farmer or small farmer but even those operating medium and large
farms are not spared either.

7.  What is really worrying is the fact even the educated rural youth, including
agricultural graduates, are almost totally not interested in taking up farming as a
profession.
 Even the majority of farmers do not want their next generation to do this thankless
job, their traditional profession. They want them to settle down in towns and cities
so that they can pursue more decent and lucrative jobs in urban metros.
(Source : Krishi Jagran 2015)
Views to attract youth towards agriculture
 The need for a strategy to keep youth grounded in agriculture was first voiced by
the National Commission on Farmers, headed by noted scientist and father of
India’s green revolution, M S Swaminathan,inits fifth and final report in 2006.
"The youth can be attracted to and retained in farming only if it becomes
economically rewarding and intellectually satisfying", the commission had
observed.
 It had also stressed the need for providing essential facilities such as power,
roads, education and health care, among others, in rural areas.
 Besides, he had called for changes in the curricula of agricultural universities to
prepare and train the youth for taking up agriculture on scientific lines or engaging
in agriculture-related income-generating ventures. Every scholar should be a
potential entrepreneur.
 At the policy level, the commission had counselled integration of on-farm and
non-farm rural employment strategies.
(Source :
Krishi Jagran 2015)
 Radha Mohan Singh also stated that, Agriculture has become unprofitable
enterprise for small and marginal farmers. This sector not only needs integrated
approach but certain structural reforms to deal with farm crises.

8. • Our country so heavily depends on agriculture cannot develop without making
agriculture profitable.
• In order to make agriculture remunerative enterprise, production and productivity
both have to be increased, challenges of markets have to be addressed and the
process of reforms needs to be carried out in the agriculture system.
• Ministry of Agriculture has taken several steps such as soil health cards scheme
in mission mode, establishment of new KVKs, new Central Agriculture
Universities and launching of ICAR scheme of “Attracting and Retaining youth
in agriculture’’ .
(Source : National Youth convention – 2016)
 ARYA : Attracting & Retaining youth in agriculture
 What is ARYA ?
- Realizing the importance of rural youth in agricultural development especially
from the point of view of food security of the country, ICAR has initiated a
program on “Attracting and Retaining Youth in Agriculture” on 16th july
2015.
- Under this scheme, special efforts will be taken to attract the rural youth under
the age of 35 years in agriculture so that the increase in the migration of rural
youth towards cities is controlled.
Objectives:
 To attract and empower the youth in rural areas to take up various agriculture,
allied and service sector enterprises for sustainable income and gainful
employment in selected districts
 To enable the farm youth to establish net work groups to take up resource and
capital intensive activities like processing, value addition and marketing

9.  To demonstrate functional linkage with different institutions and stakeholders for
convergence of opportunities available under various schemes/ program for
sustainable development of youth
 OperationalMechanism:
 The project should be implemented in 25 districts (one district from each state)
 Through the KVKs of those districts
 With technical partners from Institutes of the Indian Council of Agricultural
Research (ICAR), the Agricultural Universities and others.
 One or two entrepreneurial development units should be established at the KVK
itself so that it serve(s) as entrepreneurial training unit(s) for the farm youth.
 The KVKs should also facilitate youth for establishing various entrepreneurial
units at the farm of the youths or group of youth.
Why ARYA Programme ?
1. Primary sector need skilled youth with business skills to boost agriculture and
allied sector.
2. Youth find agriculture activities a burden some are willing to settle abroad.
3. The productivity of primary sector depends on skills and new technology. It is
employing more than 55% population but share in GDP is only 13.7%.
4. The income of rural youth would become sustainable and meaningful.
5. New scheme would help develop service sector in rural area by building
entrepreneurial skills.

10. ARYA Project Proceeding:-
 SWOT analysis of rural youth
Strengths
• They possess good energy.
• They have capacity & ability to produce more.
• Due to their exposure to media, they are capable of accepting new ideas in
farming.
Weakness
• Elderly farmers in the family takes the decision in farming.
• They lack training in improved methods & skills.
• Non- remunerative prices to agricultural produce.
• Agriculture is not perceived as lucrative vocation.

11. Opportunities
• Increased market for agricultural produce & secondary agricultural commodities,
which ensures good income to young farmers.
• Training opportunities through KVKs & other training institutions.
• Farmer friendly policies, incentives & schemes of the Government in the field of
agriculture
Threats .
• Increased migration to urban areas.
• Less respect for agriculture profession.
• Poverty & unemployment in rural areas.
• Lack of education.
 Promoting sustainable agriculture through the youth
1. Teaching agriculture at school level
Teaching agriculture at school level make them more careful than we have been.
Making the children sensitive to these problems is giving them the key of future,
and ensuring that these ideas will never be ignored any more.
2. Lower & higher agricultural education
Most of students are from rural areas and their family occupation is agriculture.
These students can become the ambassadors of sustainable agriculture and are
exposed to various dimensions of sustainable agriculture during their studies.
3. Entrepreneurship development
Agriculture in India is mostly dependent on monsoon and hence, most of the area
is mono- cropped. It cannot sustain the livelihood of the farm family. As a result,
the rural youths migrate to urban areas in search of job. Developing
entrepreneurship among these youth by imparting training on different agro

12. based enterprises and entrepreneurial skills will help in checking the rate of
migration from rural areas and provide availability of working force in agriculture.
4. Organizing youths
A large number of youth clubs are established across the country. Through these
clubs the rural youth undertake various social and cultural activities in their
villages. However, only few of them have agriculture on their agenda.
5. Natural resource management
Rural youth need to involve in planning and executing the programmes like tree
planting, watershed management, rain water harvesting, use of non conventional
source of energy etc.
6. Recognition
Rural youth doing excellent contribution in various aspects of sustainable
agriculture should be recognized at different levels by the government in the form
of prizes and awards. Such recognitions will sustain their interest in farming and
will also motivate others to follow the suits.
7. Gender equity
It should be mentioned by empowering rural women in different areas like,
training, education, ownership of land, entrepreneur partnership, practicing
political partnership etc.
8. Innovative programme
Rural youth do like to participate in the innovative programmes rather than
routine ones. The extension organizations will have to plan and execute the
agricultural development programmes that are innovative and give ample scope
to utilize the creativity and novel ideas of the rural youth.

13.  Challenges to empower and retain youths in agriculture
1. Education:
In India, agricultural education has been disappeared from primary and secondary
schools or curricula are not relevant to agriculture. Moreover, agriculture is seen as
a less worthwhile subject.
2. Access to knowledge and agricultural information:
Youth’s access to knowledge and information is crucial for addressing the main
challenges they face in agriculture. Indian youth is lacking in knowledge and access
to agricultural information, markets and marketing of agro produces and finance as
well as land for cultivation.
3. Limited access to land:
Land is fundamental requirement to start the farming and agro industries. Youngsters
have greater challenge to obtain the necessary capital or invest the higher capital to
buy land. In addition, loans to buy land are not easily accessible for youth. Large-
scale land deals are particularly unfair towards young people, given that they are
often not even consulted on agreements which may bar their and the next
generations’ access to land. Furthermore, youth often lack in knowledge on the
existing land tenure systems in their area, which is not surprising as these systems
can be a highly complex set of overlapping rules, laws, customs and traditions. Youth
are not always aware of acquisition, registration and taxation measures, and so are
disproportionately affected by corruption and the fraudulent activities of land dealers
(UN-HABITAT, 2011).
4. Financial investment:
Even if young brigade accessed the land, they have limited financial capability to
start farming activities and agri-enterprise. In addition, they require high capital
investments in inputs of farm management resources.
5. Limited knowledge & information of markets and marketing strategies:

14. Young people face a number of challenges while trying to access markets. Young
farmers and entrepreneurs have limited knowledge and experience of how markets
work; they often lack business, management and entrepreneurial skills, and like
many other smallholder farmers, lack information about prices. Young farmers are
new in the market and have only limited networks and contacts with buyers, which
restrict their access to market information.
6. Lack of national youth policies:
India is still lacking coherent youth policies with various government agencies
responsible for covering different youth issues in agriculture sector.
7. Limited role of youth in policy making:
In Indian agriculture, inclusion of youth in agricultural policy-making is still in an
exploratory stage and the full impact is yet to be felt. Policies often fail to reflect the
heterogeneity of youth and tend to target non-poor men living in urban areas
(Bennell, 2007). Seniority is frequently associated with authority, and youth are not
expected or allowed to speak out or voice their concerns, let alone have a role in
policy development processes (Lintelo, 2011).
 Suggestions for youth empowerment in agriculture
 Investment more in technical and vocational education in agriculture and allied
sectors
 Creating strong training infrastructure for youth in agriculture
 Up to date the trainers of the training institutions of agriculture and allied sectors
institutions
 Practically applicable drip irrigation system should be developed
 Encourage group based youth empowerment programme in agriculture through
encouraging small farmers to adopt cooperative system , SHGs, FIG.
 Appropriate policy should be framed for encouraging and recognizing the family
farming

15.  In rural area facilities like urban area should be created to stop migration
 Rural youths preferring farming as profession should be given extra advantages
 Necessary facilities should be provided in terms of transportation, inputs,
technology, market etc.
 Improve the market mechanism
 Need to reduce drudgery by mechanization especially for small farmers
 State level planning should be made regarding state, national and export needs
of different farm products and based on that farmers should be motivated to
produce various products
 Need to strengthen export strategy
 Crop wise, model farmers should be identified and their services should be taken
to motivate other farmers
 Developing and incorporation of ICTs based tools for multi-domains information
sharing for youth in agriculture
 Crop insurance system should be farmers' friendly
 Need to strengthen research to develop location specific models of mix farming
for small and marginal farmers
 Fund management and irrigation facility should be on priority
 Assured minimum price should be given to farm products